Freshman Year
by Kimberr
Summary: New friends, first loves, cramped dorm rooms and basement keggers. Freshman year is going to be interesting....
1. Chapter 1

We had been sitting quietly next to each other for the last hour. It wasn't uncomfortable. I liked that about Charlie, I had never felt the need for filler conversations. I stared out the window trying to imagine what the next year was going to be like.

I wasn't really nervous. I mean college can't be that much harder than high school, right? I was hoping that it would be a whole lot more interesting, but I was a little worried about making new friends. I hadn't been particularly popular when I was living with my mom in Phoenix and to be honest when I had moved in with Charlie junior year I hadn't really tried. Forks was a small town and everyone already knew everyone, and they had since they were toddlers. I just had to survive the last two years. This was going to be different._ I_ was going to be different. I looked up as we drove into the city.

_Holy shit, he's really_ _going to leave me here_.

Okay maybe I was a little more nervous than I thought.

We pulled into a parking spot in front of the dorm. I said a silent thank you that we were bringing all my belongings up and that had required borrowing a van. This would be awkward in Charlie's police cruiser. The sidewalks and the parking lot were full of kids and parents running and back and forth and shouting. It was mass chaos. It looked like some people were pushing carts loaded full of stuff and I noticed a few older students holding clipboards and looking bored.

"Well here we go, Bells. Why don't you see if you can figure out where we're going, I'll look for a cart or something." Charlie had barely mumbled the last sentence and he looked more than a little uncomfortable while his eyes darted around the parking lot.

"Okay, Dad." One of us had to pretend we knew what was going on. I wandered toward a tall blonde holding a clipboard. "Hi, I'm Bella Swan. And…" I stopped talking when she gave me an ice stare.

"Straight inside, your packet's in the lobby. I would assume under S." She went back to her clipboard. Okay, I was off to a rockin' start.

The lobby was packed with people. Everyone was laughing and talking. How did I already feel like I was missing out on something? Okay, concentrate. _S_. I found the Tupperware with the S envelopes in it easily enough. I popped open my envelope and found my keys and room information inside. The woman manning the table looked at me kindly.

"Women's tower to the right, men are on the left." Mental note: always turn right. The building mirrored itself and I didn't really want to think about how easy it would be to screw this up and end up in the middle of a guys' floor. I'll spare myself _that _embarrassment thank you! Charlie had reappeared with a cart and my entire life inside of it. One trip, that's a little depressing.

"We're headed this way." I led Charlie through the door on the right and we got in line at the elevator. I exchanged a shy smile with a pretty brunette standing in between her parents right in front of us. I started to wonder about my new roommate. I had only been sent a name. I wonder what she would be like. God, I hope we get along. I had never actually shared a room before. It was one of the benefits of being an only child. The elevator opened and the girl in front of us loaded on with her parents and cart.

"There is room for you," she called. Well this would be interesting. Charlie maneuvered the cart into the elevator while she held the door. We squeezed in and the door shut. We were standing directly next to each other practically touching the elevator doors.

"What floor?"

"Fourth."

"Me too." I smiled at her. Maybe this would be okay after all.

"I'm Bella." I considered shaking her hand but that seemed stupid considering we were already practically touching and I was pretty sure I couldn't turn around to offer her my hand if I wanted to. She smiled warmly at me.

"I'm Angela. It's nice to meet you." Our parents shifted quietly behind us. The elevator stopped at every floor on the way up, doors opening to reveal exhausted parents standing with empty carts, impatiently waiting for the next empty elevator. When we reached the fourth floor we barely made it off before the desperate parents with empty carts on our floor bum rushed us to get a spot on the elevator.

I looked around trying to get my bearings. I turned to the hallway on the right. Good, this will help with plan "always go right." I was happy when I noticed Angela and her parents doing the same. I got to my door and stopped. Well, this is it. Angela passed us and stopped a couple doors down. I tried the doorknob first; I didn't know if my roommate would already be here. It opened.

It wasn't a big room. The left hand side of the wall had two closets separated by two built in dresser stacks. Against the far side of the room was a lofted bed with a simple desk slid underneath. I turned my head and noticed the same set up on the other side of the room. The only window in the room was straight ahead. I noticed the bed and desk closest to the door was piled with boxes and personal things. Ok, so my roommate was here somewhere. I walked into the room and Charlie followed. We left the cart in the hall because it wouldn't fit through the door. We stood looking at each other for a minute.

"You're here!" I heard the excited voice and leaned around Charlie to see where it had come from. In the doorway stood a petite girl with black spiky hair. She was really very pretty. And she was bouncing with excitement; literally, I had never seen someone actually do that before. She was across the room before I could register much more than that.

"You must be Isabella, I'm Alice. Oh we are going to be great friends, I can tell already." I wasn't sure what to say to that. I mean I could tell already she wasn't really my type of girl, but I also kind of instantly liked her for it. Weird. Charlie caught my eye. He was trying not to laugh; well at least someone thought this was funny.

"It's just Bella," I corrected her.

"Ms. Brandon?"

"Oh yes bring it in here!" Movers. She had movers! She turned to me, "I hope you don't mind I thought we should have some decent seating." I looked up and noticed the men were carrying in a leather sofa. They slid it up against the left hand wall in the open space between our desks. Alice plopped down in the middle.

"Perfect!" I could tell from where I was the couch was worth more than all of the furniture in Charlie's house put together. And that's when I decided I would never sit on it. No need to tempt the gods.

The next hour passed really quickly. Charlie unloaded the cart and I started putting things away. Alice talked almost nonstop. About, well, everything. She seemed particularly distraught about the size of the closets.

"Where am I supposed to put all of my clothes?" I looked at my half empty closet and then over at her closet, which she had so jammed I'm not sure how she could even see what was in there, and she was still standing in front of two open suitcases. Well I guess now is a good a time as any to be a good roomie.

"Alice, I'm really just a t-shirt and jeans kind of gal. If you want I've got space in my closet." She turned her head toward me. The look on her face was almost comical. You would have thought I just offered her my only working kidney. Then something hit me, it took me a second to realize it was Alice and that she had me in a bear hug, I was working to recoup my breath.

"Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou! I so owe you big time!"

"Really it's not a big deal." I tried to remove her from my waist. I mean, I liked my hyperactive powerhouse of a roommate, but I wasn't really into people being quite this far into my bubble. I like to keep a nice safety bubble, you know maybe like an arms length or so. I was happiest when I was the only one in my bubble. She released me and dragged one huge suitcase over to my closet and started loading things in. Charlie was standing in the doorway with his hands in his pockets rocking on his feet. This was it.

"Well kiddo that's everything."

"Yeah I guess so, call me when you get home. I'll have my cell."

He pulled me into a one arm hug and kissed the top of my head. "Be safe ok, love you." He let me go, and I gave him a half smile. We both sucked at goodbyes.

"Yeah I will, love you too dad." And then he was gone. _Well here goes nothing_.

An hour later I had a perfectly organized desk with my favorite novels lined up on the small shelf above it. I smiled in satisfaction. Alice, on the other hand, had filled up three quarters of my closet and half my drawers-not that I cared- and seemed to have finally found a spot for everything. She looked over at me with concern.

"Bella we are seriously going to need to expand your wardrobe, I can tell already." I giggled at her.

"Then where would we put your clothes?"

"Hmmm, good point. Still…"

I rolled my eyes. I didn't really care to be fashion forward; I was more about comfort. She got an excited look in her eye, something told me that was going to mean trouble for me more often than not.

"Let's go meet the rest of the hall!"

Well that didn't seem too terrible. I mean, out of my comfort zone, yes. But I had a feeling Alice would do most of the talking and I had promised myself I was going to try.

"Okay Alice. Let's go."

The door across from us was still closed so we turned right to our first neighbor. At least if we went this way we would run into Angela. She had seemed nice enough. Alice stepped right through the open door, and I followed her lead.

"Hey neighbors." She called on the way in. The room was identical to ours. In fact they had a really nice tan couch in the exact position that our leather coach sat. I must have missed the couch memo. There were four women in the room. At the far desk was a tall blonde. She was super model pretty. I know that sounds stupid but I felt three inches shorter just being in the same room as her. Alice was pretty too, but way more approachable than this woman. I mean... _whoa_. Her blonde hair fell down almost to her waist, and even sitting down it was obvious she had a fantastic figure. On the end of the coach closest to the gorgeous girl's desk, much to my surprise, was Angela from the elevator. On the other end of the coach was a platinum blonde. She wasn't nearly as pretty as the other blonde and she had this expression on her face that made it clear she was annoyed by the mere fact that the rest of us existed. And sitting at the other desk was a short brunette with tight curly hair that she had tied back in a ponytail.

"Hi," said the girl in the ponytail, "This is my room. I'm Jessica."

"Our room."

"Oh yeah, our room." Jessica shot a glance at the supermodel. She looked up from her magazine.

"Rosalie."

"Hi I'm Angela, and this is my roommate Lauren. We're the next door down." The girl with the unpleasant face sneered at us. Angela seemed like a really nice girl but she must have done something in a previous life to deserve a roommate like Lauren. Okay, that wasn't really fair. I didn't know Lauren at all, and I was giving people chances. It was the new and different me.

"I'm Alice and this is my roommate Bella. We're right next door too!" It was an odd exchange. There was a weird silent pause.

I felt like this was the time in one of those anonymous meetings where someone stood up and talked about the moment they realized they needed to get help. _Well you see I turned 18 and realized I didn't really have any friends and I knew something had to change. So I followed this near stranger into a room of total strangers and here I stand. _Hmmm, I needed a better story. This one was sad enough, but it lacked the excitement a confession of this sort should have.

Alice flitted over to Rosalie. Well I suppose that made sense. For a second I frowned. I mean she was my roommate, and didn't she say we were going to be "great friends?" Was she going to dump me for the first new attractive friend she found? Wow, I needed to get out more. I barely knew the girl. She could have other friends.

I wandered over and sat next to Angela. She seemed safe, although that put me far too close to that Lauren girl. In fact, though we were sitting and definitely not touching, she was totally in my bubble. I didn't want her there. _Okay, Bella, calm down the crazy_. Just then, the room filled up with the sounds of Pink Floyd. Angela pulled out her phone. Huh, she didn't really seem the type, but whatever.

"Hey Ben." She stood up, smiled at me and wandered out of the room... leaving me on the couch with Lauren. _Great_. Alice and Rosalie were in some heated discussion about the Cosmo Rosalie was holding. Not gettin' in on that. I turned my head and Jessica was telling Lauren for the third time since I sat down how pretty her hair was. Barf. This is why I avoided women. Angela wandered back into the room.

"That was Ben, he's my boyfriend." She blushed a little. Well, thank God I wasn't the only one that happened to. "Anyway he just lives in the other tower and he heard about a party that's supposed to be cool tonight. He's going with a bunch of guys from his floor. You girls want to go?"

"Did you say there would be men?" Rosalie grinned. "I'm so in." Alice giggled. And I prayed to whatever god slash higher being that was listening that I get through tonight without doing something so horrifically embarrassing that I would have to spend the next nine months locked in our dorm room.


	2. Chapter 2

Epov

I had spent the afternoon unpacking and hooking up electronics. I took a step back and surveyed the room. Not bad. I had requested a single. I really didn't want to deal with the distractions some random guy would bring. Besides what if he was messy? Not worth the risk. By some fluke in the system I had been given a double room with no roommate. I wasn't complaining. It would give me space to spread out.

I propped my door open to get some circulation going in the stuffy room, and the smell of weed came wafting in. Pfft, seriously were their parents even out of the door yet? It was strong, had to be one of my neighbors. Whatever, live and let live. As long as they weren't causing me any trouble. I turned around and started alphabetizing the CDs my mom had insisted on helping me pack. It was nice that she had offered to help and all, but she'd totally screwed up my system. How annoying.

"Hey bro, how's it going?" I turned around to find the source of the booming voice. There was huge guy with short brown hair standing in my door way. He had to be a football player. He pushed open my door the rest of the way and walked in. A tall blonde followed him in.

"Hey man I'm Emmett, and this is my roommate Jasper. We're your neighbors." He stuck out his hand and smiled. I took it; he seemed nice enough and definitely not high. That must be the other neighbor.

"Edward. Nice to meet you."

"Dude do you have this whole room to yourself?"

"Yeah, it's some sort of fluke, good luck I guess." I shrugged, not wanting to make a big deal out of it. I'm sure they were sharing a room the same size as mine. Emmett wandered over to the T.V. where Jasper was already looking through my video game collection. I didn't really play a lot of video games, but I liked to be prepared in case the mood struck. Jasper looked up at me.

"Man you've got one of everything. This is great." Emmett grinned.

"Party room, sweet." What? Not sweet. I was trying to figure out how to politely tell them my room was absolutely not going to be the party room when the source of the weed smell showed up at my door. He stood there in his t-shirt and baggy cargo pants grinning like an idiot for a second. "Hey," he said. "I'm Ben."

An hour later we were all piled in front of my T.V. playing split screen James Bond. Emmett had brought over some extra chairs from Jasper and his room. I was okay, Jasper was really good, and Emmett was, well enthusiastic. I wondered how many chairs he would break this semester. After his last death he had jumped up on the one he was sitting on and declared that he and Jasper had a truce and that the kill shouldn't count. I thought the chair was going to give out. Ben, my other neighbor, was also pretty decent. You know, considering. We had just finished another game when he looked up.

"Oh yeah, I came over to invite you guys to a party," Ben said, like it had just occurred to him or something.

"You've been here for like an hour." I looked at him skeptically.

He gave me a huge smile.

"Don't worry, we didn't miss it. The party is tonight," he said. He seemed genuinely pleased with himself. I smiled back despite myself. Emmett started laughing.

"Excellent. Not that you boys aren't pretty, but I'm looking forward to meeting some ladies." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. I noticed Jasper eyeing my futon. I'm sure he was debating whether or not it was long enough to sleep on if Emmett brought some girl back tonight. I guess I didn't mind. Jasper seemed like a cool guy, pretty mellow. Ben laughed too.

"Right on, I just got to call my girl and fill her in."

"Does she live in one of the dorms?" Emmett asked.

"Yeah she's in the other tower."

"Well make sure she brings some friends. I've got some party supplies in my room, so we can meet over here before we head out."

**

I had been worried about exactly what kind of girls Ben had invited over, but by nine we were all collected back in my room and I was feeling much more comfortable. Apparently Ben and Angela had pretty much grown up together. From the sounds of it Angela was a pretty straight arrow planning on going premed. Best I could tell from our conversation, Ben was going for a Philosophy degree. It was an odd pairing, but it was obvious just from talking to him that he was head over heels for this Angela.

Jasper and Emmett had returned with the booze from their room apparently Emmett didn't go half way when it came to the pre-party, this was actually some good stuff. Ben returned with his roommate, Eric. Eric seemed even more uncomfortable in the situation than I was. He was shifting from foot to foot and couldn't seem to decide where to look. His eyes flew from one corner of the room to the next. Currently he was nervously rambling to Jasper about the need for more Physics majors. Jasper was at least pretending to listen and Eric seemed to be calming down a little bit. I wondered if it was Jasper's patience or the scotch Eric was holding that was having the effect. Suddenly a chorus of giggles greeted us from the hallway. Ben put down the game controller and cracked open the door.

"Hey ladies come on in," he said.

The first girl through the door was a tall blonde. She was hot- not really my type, but a definite head turner. Right behind her was a small girl with short black hair. The differences between them were pronounced, but they were both attractive and dressed to impress. They walked in with an easy air of confidence.

In contrast, the two girls that came in next seemed much less sure of themselves. They certainly weren't as attractive, but still cute. The second blonde had clearly made some efforts to hike her chest up to maximum height under the tight shirt she was wearing and her friend seemed entranced by her. I wondered for a second if they were together.

Ben reached out to the next woman through the door and pulled her in for a gentle kiss, she let out a soft laugh. I'm going to assume that was Angela. Then I saw her.

She was….perfect. Long brown hair framed her face and fell down almost to her waist, softly curling at the ends. She was only wearing a little make up, just enough to accent her large brown eyes and perfect mouth. I couldn't be sure, but it looked like she was blushing. Beautiful. She was wearing a simple black v-neck t-shirt, but it hugged her curves just right and revealed her perfect collarbone. _Whoa did_ _you just check out a girl's collarbone? Focus_. The dark jeans she was wearing fit her just as nicely as the top. I met her gaze and realized I had been blatantly checking her out. _Whoops_. I smiled meekly at her. She bit her bottom lip, _oh my_, looked down quickly and pulled the door shut behind her.

Bpov

I don't know how she did it, but Alice managed to find the tightest pair of jeans that I owned in 20 seconds flat. She rummaged through our drawers a little longer before pulling out a top that she decided would "compliment my figure". I looked down at myself. I'm not sure I really have that much of a figure to begin with, but wearing what she picked out for me seemed to make her happy, and it wasn't too offensive. It was nothing compared to what she was wearing, in any case. She wore snuggly fitting jeans and a silky hot pink top that appeared to be missing most of its' back. I even let her put a little bit of make up on me and curl my hair. I had drawn a strong line when she pulled out a pair of black heels.

"Come on Bella. Please! You'll look super hot in these." She was actually pouting.

"Alice unless you guys intend to take turns carrying me to the emergency room when I fall down and break both my ankles it's not happening. It's just much safer for me and everyone around me if I'm in flats." She hadn't protested much longer, but when we all piled in the elevator thirty minutes later she was still grumbling something about heels making your calves look great under her breath.

We followed Angela over to the guys' side of the dorm, and got off the elevator on the floor she indicated. Fourth. Well that would be easy to remember. _Why would I need to_ _remember it?_ Rose and Alice led us down a hall that looked almost identical to ours. Angela and I brought up the back of the group.

We had just gotten past the bathroom door when it swung open behind us. I heard a low whistle. Angela and I stopped and turned around. Leaning against the wall behind us was a thin blonde man. His hair was still wet but he had taken the time to spike it before he left the bathroom. He was only wearing a towel which was slung dangerously low on his hips and a pair of flip flops, and he was staring straight at me. Well my chest, but I guess that counts.

"I'm Mike. What's your name, sweetheart?" He looked up at my face for the first time and smiled expectantly. I could feel the heat of my blush starting to build. This was the most naked man I had ever seen, he was a complete stranger, and he was close enough that he could reach out and touch me without either of us moving. I realized he was still waiting expectantly and my mouth was hanging open, mostly out of shock. The rest of the group had stopped moving when we did, and suddenly I heard Rosalie snort and my head swung in her direction. She openly assessed Mike and shook her head.

"Oh I just don't think so. Come on girls." With that she turned around and kept walking. We followed her and two steps later the reality of the situation sank in and I started giggling. Then everyone was laughing along. A couple doors down a door opened and tall brunette with a large smile leaned out.

"Hey ladies, come on in."

I followed the group into the room. The guy who opened the door must be Ben, he pulled Angela in for a kiss when we walked in the room. I'm not a PDA girl myself, but it was actually kinda sweet.

I surveyed the room. It was a double, but I only saw one bed. There were five guys in the room. Ben, who had let us in, had his arm around Angela. An incredible looking tall blonde on the other side of the room was sitting across from a dark haired guy who was busy studying the floor. Rose had already made her way over to the muscle bound brunette who seemed to be making drinks. He smiled at her, showing off dimples that would make any girl swoon. I had followed a group of beautiful women into a room full of beautiful men. Stay calm, Bella. Try not to move. Maybe if I held real still no one would notice me. I read somewhere that worked with T-Rexes. I felt someone looking at me. I turned my head, that's when I saw him.

He was staring at me with a strange look on his face. His bronze hair was messy, but in a sexy way. I had an overwhelming urge to run my hands through it. _Well that's new_. He had a strong square jaw line. I looked up and at once was instantly caught in the deepest green eyes that I had ever seen. He smiled at me, only half his mouth turned up creating a lopsided grin. I bit my lip and looked down. So much for not drawing attention to myself. I realized that I was standing there with the door open. _Duh, Bella_. The gorgeous man likely was wondering if you were going to get around to closing it. I pulled the door closed quietly behind me and held on to the door knob longer than necessary. Alice was suddenly at my side. _Thank God_.

She shoved a cup of something red into my hand and smiled up at me. It suddenly occurred to me I would be expected to drink. _Shit_. How had I not thought of that? I had no idea what I was doing. Charlie was really uptight about underage drinking, being a cop and all, so I had never so much as had a glass of wine at Thanksgiving. Everyone else in the room seemed relaxed, drinking whatever they were holding. This couldn't be so hard, right? I took a cautious sip of my drink. _Huh_. It tasted like juice. Maybe we were going to wait to start drinking. Whatever. I didn't want to look as inexperienced as I was, so I would just go with it. Alice took me by the hand and led me over to the futon. A couple glasses of the juice Alice called whop and a little over an hour later, we stood up to go.

Everything had seemed fine a minute earlier. I mean, yes, I had noticed the room getting warmer as time passed, and now that I thought about it when Alice had first sat me down next to this Eric kid conversation had been painful. But in the last twenty minutes I had found myself rambling on and on to him about, well, I'm not sure that it was about anything in particular. I think he had asked me what my favorite color was. I had just finished telling him how it was blue because when I was in kindergarten I had been assigned to the blue table and it had made a big impression on me. _Had I actually said that out loud_?

I had also spent the last hour trying to avoid staring at the beautiful boy whose name I now knew to be Edward. He already no doubt thought I was socially challenged, no need to reinforce that. But when I stood up to walk out with the group all these concerns seemed very small in comparison to the one very large one I was now facing.

The entire room was spinning. I had managed to stay stable on my feet. I snuck a look around to try and determine if anyone else had noticed that the room appeared to be spinning on its' axis. I seemed to be the only one. _Not good_. I stood very still for a second. Dread started to creep in as I realized very soon I was going to have to move forward. I had a hard time keeping myself upright on a good day, I don't know how I was expected to do it with the floor moving on its' own. I started growing suspicious that there was a lot more than juice in whatever Alice had been giving me.

"Let's go party kids!" Ben called as he opened the door. The room started filing out behind him_. Crap. Crap. Crap_. I felt an arm snake around my waist. And a voice whispered in my ear, "Shall we?"

For the briefest second I imagined it was Edward. No such luck, it was Eric. He led me out of the room. Normally, I would have pulled away from him. He was definitely uninvited and in my bubble… but frankly, I needed the help; I leaned on him more than I would have liked. Thankfully, we were all in the elevator before too long. I was pressed against the cold back wall of the elevator as it went down. It felt great. I was aware of Eric still talking to me, I wasn't listening. I looked to my right and noticed that Edward was standing on the other side of me. And he was staring at me again, this time with a slightly amused expression on his face. _He knew_. It was the only explanation. I tried to look stealthily around the elevator to see if anyone else had caught on. They all seemed totally engrossed in conversations with each other. The elevator door opened and the group started moving out. Edward opened his mouth like he was going to say something and started reaching his hand toward me. At that same moment I felt Eric's arm wrap around my waist from behind and saw Lauren's hand shoot out and grab Edward's other arm.

"Come on silly! The party's this way." She was talking to him in this high pitched tone I didn't recognize, and it could have been wishful thinking but I swear she was slurring her words ever so slightly.

By the time we got out into the cool evening air I was feeling much better. I was also growing increasingly annoyed with my new friend's need to be constantly touching me. Now that I didn't need Eric's immediate help to keep myself standing, I would have preferred he keep his hands to himself. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure how to put that wall back up.

Ben and Angela led the group down the sidewalk, followed by Emmett, Rosalie, Alice and Jasper. Edward was sandwiched between Lauren and Jessica directly in front of Eric and me. They each had an arm linked with one of his. It made me angry. Okay, that was stupid. I hadn't even really spoken to the guy. Maybe I was just angry because I was stuck in the back with the obvious social outcast of the group_. Just where you belong. _I shook my head again. Just where, Bella, do you get off judging others social status? I mean, so he had talked about it his eighth grade science fair project for like an hour. I'm sure he was usually very interesting. And nice. Nice was good. So what if he wasn't very attractive… what was I expecting? I should try to be nicer. I mean, he was a boy and he was paying attention to me.

The rest of the walk was… tedious. I gave up trying to listen to Eric. Instead I concentrated on watching the defined muscles on Edward's arms and back through the long sleeve thermal t-shirt he had on. The air was sobering me up a little and I promised myself I would be more careful for the rest of the evening. We walked up to a ratty house with about fifteen kids all smoking on the front porch, and Ben turned and led us through the front door. I guess this was it. My first kegger!


	3. Chapter 3

Bpov

It turns out that house parties are hot, loud, and they smell bad. Alice, Rosalie, and I were in the middle of a large basement room. We were dancing to generic club mix music blasting from the corner. Well, dancing was maybe generous. I, for one, didn't dance. And even if I did there really wasn't room to do more than slightly sway your body. We were all pressed against each other and surrounded on all sides by trashed coeds. For the fifth or sixth time some guy had just full on felt up my backside. I turned my head, annoyed, trying to find the offender. It was really creeping me out, despite the buzz I had going.

When I turned back to the girls I saw that Jasper and Emmett had joined us. Emmett and Rosalie were moving together to the music in a way that made me want to look away. Jasper and Alice were dancing together too, but they were facing each other and there was still a small amount of space between them. They were an interesting pair: Jasper towered over Alice but neither of them seemed to mind the difference._ Third_ _wheel_. I was about to try and make a get away when a strong arm wrapped around my waist and a hand came to rest on my hip. _Great now some random asshole was going to get handsy with me. _Just then I felt my new partner lean down, and his warm breath brushed my ear.

"Is this okay?" I placed the deep, smooth voice in an instant. _Edward._ We hadn't actually any exchanged words in his room, or the elevator for that matter, but that doesn't mean I hadn't been hyper-aware of him. And now this man, who was way out of my league, was pressed against me asking me to what—dance? I realized I had stopped breathing when I heard his voice. I took a quick breath and prayed my voice didn't sound as shaky as I felt.

"Uhh yeah." _Uhh yeah. _That was my brilliant response. I heard a low chuckle in my ear and then it was gone. Oh God, was he laughing at me? This was going to be bad. I had never danced with a boy. I mean unless you count line dancing in gym. Well, and that one ridiculous eighth grade dance my mom had forced me to go to. But even then I had held onto the guy's shoulders awkwardly and swayed at a cozy three feet away from him. When I felt Edwards hips press against me, I was pretty sure that wasn't what he had in mind.

For a second I held my body absolutely still. He must have sensed my panic because he moved one hand onto each of my hips and started directing my movements. Okay, this was mortifying. This poor, hot man came to a party with his friends, and now he was stuck dancing with this kinda drunk girl who had no idea what she was doing. He was obviously just being a nice guy. It probably would have been weird to not ask me to dance. Right? Wait, why was I wasting this opportunity! I chastised myself for paying more attention to my stupid inner dialogue than Edward.

I let the drunk haze push back over me. _Just relax_. I was pretty sure he could feel my heart beating out of my chest. _Deep_ _breaths_. I tried to watch Rosalie out of the corner of my eye and copy her motions… at least the ones I thought I could do without and killing myself. Some of her moves got vetoed because I'm pretty sure I could not pull them off and look sexy. No need to go over the top, I was just trying to fit in. A couple songs later I was almost having fun.

I was starting forget about the mass of people surrounding us. For a second I forgot that the man behind me was way out of my league. I suppose it helped that I wasn't actually looking at him. All the same I could feel his hard chest behind me and I was aware of his hands touching my waist and hips, still guiding me to stay in sync with him and the song's beat. It felt great, and for a solid thirty seconds I was relaxed.

Rosalie caught my arm and nodded her head toward the stairs. I was startled at first, but then I remembered where I was and who I was with. I saw Alice and Jasper already moving that direction. I smiled and nodded back at her. There was no way we were going to hear each other down here so I just followed where she led.

After I broke away from Edward my back felt cool. My body missed the contact immediately. I didn't turn around to see if he was following. I'm sure he was. The thought of meeting his eyes after grinding on him for twenty minutes was uncomfortable. I wasn't sure how I was going to avoid eye contact for the rest of the night.

Alice was small but she had some magical powers when it came to parting the crowds. We got through the throngs of grinding party goers faster than I would have thought possible. Standing at the bottom of the stairs, I was faced with another problem. It was a miracle I had gotten down these stairs alive. I wasn't sure how I was going to get back up them. They were open to the room on one side and there was no railing on the other, just a gross cement wall that looked like it had things growing out of it. _Not touching that_. The steps themselves were basically wood planks that looked like they couldn't actually hold the weight of a person.

I was still debating what to do when Edward hooked an arm around me and lifted me up the first step. A partner should make this easier, and I wasn't going to complain. It gave me an excuse to be touching him again. By some miracle we got up the stairs without incident and emerged on the first floor. It was still warm but there were fewer people than in the basement, and at least it felt like the air was moving.

A loud round of cheers erupted from the next room over. I followed the group toward the noise. Edward turned and smiled at me. My heart stopped for a second. He turned back around and walked into the room. I was going to have to get a grip if we were going to hang out with these guys again, he would probably notice if I passed out when he smiled at me.

We walked into a room jammed with people. The only furniture was three decrepit card tables pushed together in the middle of the room. The two far tables were covered in cups leaving the middle table empty. Ben and a guy I didn't recognize were on one end of the table chanting for the two guys on the other end to drink. I had no idea what was going on. Everyone was laughing and playing along so I clutched my red cup and tried to blend in. I had decided in the last two hours that keg beer was terrible. I would be avoiding it in the future. Ben and his partner appeared to be the winners as the two guys at the other end of the table had slunk off after finishing all the beer on the table. Another guy had come back over and started filling up cups again.

"Hey Edward, Emmett, come on! We're looking for some challengers!" Ben wobbled a little. I noticed Angela standing behind him. She didn't look altogether pleased. The group shuffled as Edward and Emmett took their spots. Somehow I ended up standing directly next to the table and Edward. I looked over at Alice. I desperately wanted to know what was going on, but I couldn't ask without everyone hearing. Alice must have caught the meaning in my look because she mouthed back at me, _beer pong_. That didn't really clear anything up but I nodded anyway. If drunk people played it I should be able to understand the rules.

It turns out I was right. The rules seemed straight forward enough. If the opposing team gets a ping pong ball in your cup you drink. With every hit the crowd cheered, it was actually kind of fun. But then, I wasn't the one downing the bad beer. Edward and Ben were really good; they seemed to hit a cup almost every shot. Emmett was incredibly competitive and took it hard when his shots missed their mark. Ben's partner seemed to have checked out, so their team was really a one man show. I started wondering if they washed those cups. It didn't look like they had. _This game is kind of unsanitary_. I had just started thinking about all the places that ping pong ball may have been when I heard a voice next to me.

"I've been looking for you all night."

I had managed to free myself of Eric on the way into the party, but it appears he didn't get the hint.

"Hi, Eric. Having fun?" I didn't turn to look at him. I didn't want to be rude, but I didn't want to lead him on either. I mean nice guy or not, I wasn't really interested.

"Well I'm having more fun now." I saw him reaching toward me out of the corner of my eye. Time for evasive action. I slid to the side and turned my body in an attempt to make it harder for him to reach me without being obvious about it. Unfortunately my attempt to be smooth was anything but. I don't know what I was thinking. How hadn't I seen disaster coming? It was cosmic payback for letting me get both down and up those stairs safely. My foot caught on the leg of the closest card table and my hip made full contact with the corner. Before I knew it the table was collapsing and I was standing face to face with Edward and we were both covered in beer.

The room erupted in applause. Someone shouted, "Wet T-Shirts!" Followed by whistles and cat calls. I could feel the heat building on my face; I knew it was blazing red.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry," I said, keeping my eyes down. I couldn't bear to see the look on his face. He had to be angry. "I'm just……really sorry." I wasn't sure what to do, so in an act of desperation I tried to brush off his beer-soaked pants. Like that was going to help. I suddenly realized that I had my hands all over the crotch of the very hot near stranger that I had dumped beer on.

Mortified doesn't begin to cover it. My hands stopped where they were. I was pretty sure it was physically impossible for my face to get any redder. I took a step back and made the mistake of looking up. I can't say I could identify the look on Edward's face. Stunned? I would be stunned if someone had just dumped a ton of beer on me. Horrified? Maybe, I had all but felt him up in a room full of people. I need to escape, quickly. I turned and thankfully Rosalie was there guiding my arm.

"Let's get you dried off." She led me out of the room. Alice followed behind us. We found a bathroom and the three of us jammed in. I was near tears.

"I think I'm going to die." I was sobbing. Alice looked at me sympathetically.

"Really, Bella, it's okay. We're never going to see half these people again. And the ones we are were really too drunk to care. And most importantly nothing you're wearing has to be dry cleaned! Although you do smell like beer."

She wrinkled her nose at me.

"Alice, that was the most embarrassing moment of my life."

Rosalie raised an eyebrow at me.

"Bella, if that's the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to you we need to get you out more. Now, ohmmmmm and all that shit. You're killing my buzz." She started laughing and I couldn't help it I smiled a little.

"Really, Rosalie? I mean I can't imagine you've ever done anything remotely as horrifying." I looked at her, almost hoping she would contradict me. "I mean, did you miss the part where I molested Edward after spilling a table full of beer on him?" She laughed lightly. Something in her face softened. She seemed less threatening than she had earlier in her room.

"You can call me Rose. And no I saw it, but it's alright. I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it." I scrunched up my face. She was trying to make me feel better. I appreciated the effort, but please, there was nothing enjoyable about being covered in beer and felt up by a stranger. I should know. In the meantime Alice had been working to de-beer my shirt. It was strange I didn't mind how she repositioned and manhandled me while she worked on my shirt and jeans. Normally it would have bothered me. She finally deemed me cleaned up and took a step back. She looked up at me and smiled.

"You ready to go home?" She asked. I sighed with relief.

"Yes, very. Thank you." I followed the girls out and we slid out the front door. The temperature had dropped, but the walk back to the dorm seemed faster than the walk there. I was glad to not have to face the guys again, but I was worried about the girls we had come with. Alice assured me Angela was safe with Ben, and Rose said she had seen Jessica and Lauren "getting comfortable" with a couple of guys earlier in the night.

I was still completely embarrassed, but Alice and Rose swapped stories about drunken high school experiences all the way back to the dorm, and by the time we got there I felt a little better. I just needed some sleep. I couldn't believe just this morning I had been sitting next to Charlie as we drove into town. It already seemed a lifetime ago.

Epov

Emmett and Jasper had convinced me that keg stands would be a good bonding exercise. Normally I wouldn't have gone along with it, but what the hell? Emmett went first. The whole room counted. I started to think maybe I should have gone before him. When he finished what was an incredibly impressive keg stand the five guys that had been holding him dropped his feet to the floor. A giant smile spread across his face.

"Beat that, Jasper," he barked. I looked at Jasper. I wasn't sure that it was physically possible. To be honest I was hoping Jasper held for a lower number since I was going after him.

Then I watched the impossible. Jasper beat Emmett's keg stand count. I was screwed. I already had more than a decent buzz going and I was pretty sure this was going to push me well over the edge. Jasper took a step away from the keg and gestured for me to go ahead. I suddenly became convinced I could do the impossible too. I mean, I'm Edward fucking Cullen. I can accomplish anything I put my mind too. Keg stands should fall under that rule, right?

I grabbed the sides of the keg and felt my legs being hoisted. I was vividly aware of the counting that had started. At first it seemed like I had this in the bag. Then things took a turn. _They've slowed down. I swear the counting has gotten slower. How close to Emmett_ _and Jasper's count do I really need to get?_ And then I heard it, the magic number. One more than Jasper. Cheers filled the room. When my feet made contact with the ground again, I promised myself I would slow down. Right after the three of us celebrated with a shot.

Some time later, we were standing in a corner finishing another victory beer. I forget what the victory was.

"No man, did you see the blonde?" Emmett let out a low whistle. He playfully shoved Jasper. "I guess you didn't you were to busy eyeing up her tiny friend." Jasper broke into a huge smile and turned toward me.

"What about you Edward? Got your eye on any of the girls?" Jasper asked. I noticed he was leaning against the wall for support. I shrugged, trying to keep it noncommittal. What was I going to say? That I had the hots for the smoking brunette and I had managed to work up the courage to say exactly zero words to her? I wasn't normally intimidated by women, but I had no idea what to say to her. I wanted her to think I was cool and smart. I wanted to make a good impression, and I really wanted her to like me. God, even drunk I sounded like a girl.

"What do you say we go see if we can't find the girls? I don't want some other guy thinking he has a chance with my woman." Emmett swayed on his feet as he turned around. Jasper and I followed him down the basement stairs. The temperature rose as we entered the crowded space.

I don't know how but Emmett spotted Rosalie immediately in the sea of people. As we got closer I noticed she was dancing with Alice….and Bella. Perfect. Bella was facing the other direction. _Was she looking for someone? _I had noticed that Eric had been more than friendly all night. _What if she was into him?_ _He couldn't really be her type. Could he? _Emmett and Jasper had taken up there places with Rosalie and Alice. I decided to make my move. Maybe the alcohol was getting to me, because I wouldn't normally have been so forward, but I just needed to touch her. I had been dying to all night. This was the perfect excuse. I slid behind her and wrapped one hand around her waist, placing my other hand on her hip. Her small frame fit perfectly against me.

She froze. Maybe this was too forward. I leaned down and whispered into her ear. "Is this okay?" _Please say yes. Please say yes. _

"Uhh yeah," she stuttered. I caught my self starting to laugh while I straightened behind her. I was ridiculous. I had been so terrified she was going to turn me down. She stood still in front of me. _Was she waiting for me to take the lead?_ I could do that. I had one hand on each of her hips. I started to sway to the beat and I pulled her along with me. The beer was definitely catching up to me. I felt her relax into me and start to move with me. It was unreal. This was going much better than I had hoped. She was obviously into me. I don't know what I had been so worried about.

I was completely lost in my buzz, the music, and Bella. Then suddenly she was gone. I shook my head and saw Rosalie leading her toward the stairs behind Alice, Jasper, and Emmett. _What the hell! _She walked away without even looking back. What was that about? I stumbled after her.

I caught up with her at the bottom of the stairs. She was looking at the stairs. Her eyebrows furrowed and a small crease formed between them. I had the overwhelming urge to take away her problems away. Currently her problems appeared to be the stairs. Without thinking I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her up the first step. She leaned into me and I took that as my go ahead. We managed to get up the rest of the stairs without any problems.

When we got to the top I released her. I didn't want to push my luck. We followed the group in front of us into the next room. I knew she was behind me and I turned to smile at her. I tripped on my feet a little and turned back around. _Watch where you're going_.

We walked into the beer pong room. It looked like Ben and his partner had just won their match.

"Hey Edward, Emmett, come on! We're looking for some challengers!" Ben called. _Oh __shit_. I was barely holding it together as is. I don't know how, but before I knew it I was standing next to Emmett at the end of the table. On the bright side, Bella was standing on the other side of me. This had maybe turned out okay after all.

I've played a decent amount of beer pong in my day so I was on auto pilot. Emmett didn't seem to being faring quite as well but he was doing okay. He probably would have been doing better if he didn't feel the need to curse and mutter after every missed shot.

I watched Bella out of the corner of my eye. Eric reappeared. What was with this guy? _She couldn't really be interested in him_. Then I saw her moving closer to me to try avoid his grabbing hands. Seriously, who did he think he was? I saw her twisting away and bump into the table. I reached toward her with one had to try to help her escape. Unfortunately my other hand was leaning on the card table in front of me. I realized too late that I was balancing almost all my body weight on the table.

I caught myself before falling but the table collapsed under my weight. A second later I was facing Bella and we were doused in beer. _Oh Shit_. She was focused somewhere under my chin and I could see a blush creeping up her face. _She was angry_.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry." She muttered. _Wait what? _"I'm just……really sorry." Then she started frantically brushing my beer soaked pants. She has her hands on me. She's touching me. _Crap. Down, boy. Down! _Her hands froze, and she finally looked up at me. _She noticed_. _She's creeped out_. I had no idea what to say to her. So I just stared at her blankly. She disappeared into the crowd that surrounded us before I could figure out what to do next.

Thirty minutes later, Emmett, Jasper, and I stumbled out on to the sidewalk. The girls had never reappeared. I can't believe how stupid I had been. I dumped a table of beer on her. Did I actually think she was coming back?

We got back to the dorms quickly enough. I stumbled down our hall behind the guys. I pushed the bathroom door open and slid in, desperate to make it to the bathroom before I puked my guts out. I heard Emmett laughing as they walked down the hall.

"Good luck, Edward," he shouted. _Thanks, Emmett, because what I need right now is for the whole floor to know I'm sick_. I made it into a stall before I emptied out the entire night's worth of beer. _Gross._ Shared bathrooms were bad enough. I had never intended to get my head this close to the toilet. I wandered back to my room and shoved the key into the lock.

I stumbled over to the futon—there was no way I was climbing up to my lofted bed. I lay down and tried to straighten out what had happened. Had I blown my chances with Bella? Did I even care? I mean, I was eighteen and it was my first night of college. So I blew it with one girl. One sexy, perfect girl. I tried to convince myself it was no big deal, but when I passed out fully clothed on the futon, I was still thinking about dancing pressed against her in the basement.


	4. Chapter 4

Bpov

The next few days passed quickly. Thankfully we had managed to dodge the guys so far. Well, I suppose I was the only one actually _dodging_ them, not that it had been necessary. We were all pretty wrapped up in getting our schedules straightened out, buying books, and getting to know each other.

To be honest, I hadn't really decided on a major. The first couple years were all prerequisites anyway. I was taking a fair number of English classes, because I enjoyed them. But what would I do with an English/Lit degree? Teach? That didn't really interest me. Write? As wonderful as that thought was it was also completely impractical. How many people could actually make a living writing? I would spend the rest of my life waiting tables. I needed a better, more practical plan.

Rose was planning on majoring in business. The more I got to know her, the more that made sense. She didn't take crap from anyone, and something told me there wasn't a glass ceiling out there that would keep her down. I envied that strength.

Alice, on the other hand, was going to be an art major. She seemed completely undaunted by the challenges that a career in art would bring. When I asked her if she really thought it was sensible, she just laughed at me.

The day before classes started, Alice and I were sitting crossed legged next to each other on the couch with our laptops. I had relaxed a little on my "no sitting on the couch" policy, but I still kept all food and drink out of a three foot radius around the thing.

I needed to pick up one more class. I had been hoping to get into a class that had wait-listed me, but it wasn't looking good. Now I had the daunting task of finding a class with open seats left that fit into my schedule.

"I've got it!" shrieked Alice. "Take my drawing class with me."

"What? That doesn't make any sense. I can't draw." I sighed and kept clicking through course descriptions. Alice looked at me and drew up her shoulders in a huge exaggerated sigh.

"It makes perfect sense. You take a drawing class to learn how to draw. There is still an open seat, and it fits perfectly into your schedule!"

"I don't know Alice. What am I going to do with an art class?"

"You're going to use it for your art and humanities req., now stop being difficult."

Well, she had me there. She leaned over, tapped at my computer for a minute, sat back, and smiled.

"There, now we have a class together! I'm so excited. I just know you're going to love it."

I wasn't so sure about _love_ it, but Alice was right: the timing was perfect and it did fulfill a requirement.

"Hey, ladies," Rose said. She was leaning against our door frame. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail, perfect curls falling to her shoulders. She was wearing a simple tank and a pair of jeans, but she still managed to look like the cover of a magazine.

Alice had the same knack. She had spent a chunk of the afternoon picking out outfits for the two of us for our first day of classes. She insisted on knowing my exact schedule so my outfit would be appropriate. She seemed particularly disgruntled that I had a large math lecture on the same day as a small English discussion group. Apparently the outfit choices for these two classes were completely different. I was pretty sure jeans and whatever t-shirt was near the top of the drawer would have been my choice.

"I was thinking… it's the last night before classes start. We could order some pizzas, watch a movie, and maybe paint our toenails?" Rose said, smiling.

"That sounds like a plan," Alice said. "We can do it in here. I'll order the pizzas. Let's meet back at like 7:00. I have to make some phone calls." With that Alice bounced off the couch and was gone out the door, pulling Rose along with her.

The last few days had been comfortable. Cliques were starting to form in our hallway already, but for once I didn't really mind. Maybe it was because for the first time…well, ever, I felt like I was a part of one. Alice, Rose, and I had spent most of the last several days together. We were all so different from each other, but in a weird way that made it work. Angela would hang out with us sometimes, but Ben occupied most of her time. It turns out they were fairly inseparable.

Rose's roommate Jessica seemed to be working hard to make a good impression on Lauren, though for the life of me I couldn't figure out why. Most of the time when I saw them Lauren was rambling on about this, that, and the next thing and Jessica was nodding along so aggressively she looked like a bobble head doll.

I putzed around the rest of the afternoon. I packed my bag for the next day, checked my alarm clock three times, and called Charlie. A brief conversation with him waylaid any concerns he had that I had died or hated college and wanted to leave before it even started. Alice never came back. I hadn't really asked her where she was going when she left. I figured she wanted to make her phone calls privately. Our room certainly didn't allow for that.

At quarter to seven Rose and Jessica appeared at the door. Rose had changed in to a deep cut red v-neck and was wearing her hair down. Jessica was wearing a deep green casual summer dress. They had both obviously done their make-up. The day I put on make-up to walk to the room next door, someone check my head.

"Come on in. Alice isn't back yet, but I'm sure she'll be here soon." I leaned over to pull our window open. It was getting to be a cool fall evening outside, but inside the room remained hot and stuffy. I was wearing a pair of khaki shorts with a light weight black hoody zipped over the top.

I heard the noise out in the hall before I really registered who it was. I could hear Alice's laugh carrying over the other voices. I paused at the window to try to figure out who she was bringing with her. Then I heard a second boisterous laugh. _Emmett_. My heart skipped a beat. I turned around and saw Rose running her fingers through her curls and Jessica straightening out the bottom of her skirt. _Shit. _

Alice was clearly coming this way with a large group of guys and I seemed to be the only one caught unaware. They were way too close for me to change, put on make-up, or even run a brush through my hair before they got here. They were going to get Bella all natural. _Would Edward be with them?_ Just act cool. It had been a couple days; maybe he had forgotten about the keg party incident. I mean he was kinda drunk too, right? I'm sure it only took a second for them to get to the door, but it seemed like an eternity.

Alice skipped through the door holding Jasper's hand_. Huh, well that's interesting_. I suppose that explained where she'd been all afternoon. Emmett followed after with a stack of pizza boxes, then Angela, Ben, and Eric. That was it. No Edward. I should have been relieved. But I felt...disappointed. I caught Jessica's expression out of the corner of my eye. I couldn't help but notice that she was frowning too.

The evening passed easily. We crowded together in Alice and my tiny dorm room, eating pizza and swapping stories. It turns out Emmett was planning to study business as well. He and Rose actually had some classes together. Jasper was going to study architecture. I couldn't help but feel a little envious that they all seemed to have such clear ideas about what they wanted. Part of me wondered what Edward planned on studying.

On the plus side, sober Eric kept his hands to himself. On the down side, he still seemed intent on talking to me, and our conversation was strained without any alcohol to help it along. Even when the group had a fun, easy back-and-forth going, he seemed to have a way of saying something that would bring the conversation to a stand still.

Eventually Jasper rounded the group up to head out.

"Thanks for letting us use your room." Jasper tipped his head toward me. I smiled back at him. There was something about Jasper that just screamed southern gentleman.

"Anytime," I responded. I noticed Emmett and Rose exchanging numbers before they left the room. That pretty much confirmed it; I was going to have to face Edward again. The thought sent butterflies through my stomach. So I didn't have a chance, I could still admire him from afar, right?

Our door closed and Alice and I were standing across the room from each other. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Spill it."

Alice gave me an innocent smile.

"Bella, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I'm talking about the Alice and Jasper show. When did the two of you become an item?" I wasn't going to let her weasel out of this one.

"Well you know how I've been leaving the room to make phone calls the last few days?" She looked up at me, almost guiltily.

"What does that have to do with Jasper?" Was she trying to change the subject?

"Well, I haven't just been making phone calls." _Ohhhh. _"Jasper and I just hit it off so well at the party, and I know this is going to sound crazy, but I just knew I was meant to be with him." I sighed. I wished I could find that, and have it so obviously reciprocated.

"Why didn't you say anything? You didn't have to sneak around with him!" Alice didn't seem the kind to hide things.

"I didn't want to jinx it! But honestly after three days I was tired of hanging out with him in the laundry room. The humidity in there is terrible for my hair!" We laughed together while she twirled a strand of hair in between her fingers.

"Consider him invited over anytime. I suppose we should turn in, early morning!" I sighed.

***

The alarm went off earlier than I would have liked. Alice made sure I was in my approved outfit and properly put together before we walked out the door. We both had eight o'clock class on Monday. The benefit was my day was over at noon.

My English discussion had gone quickly since the lecture hadn't met yet. I was pretty sure I was going to like that class. It wasn't a bad way to start the week. My math lecture was another story.

I sat in the middle of the large hall, desperately trying to figure out what my professor was talking about. I had never been great at math, and my professor's English left more than a little to be desired. A brief look around the room confirmed I wasn't the only one struggling.

"Are you getting any of this?" someone whispered from the seat next to me. I turned my head slightly. There was an attractive brunette sitting next to me. She was smiling at me. Normally I would have shied away from conversations with strangers in the middle of class, but new adventurous Bella and all…..

"Not a word." I smiled back at her.

"Listen, maybe we can get together and study this stuff," she said. People started packing up their books around me. I guess class had ended. I stood up and started collecting my things.

"I guess. I'm not a math whiz." I figured I should be honest. She laughed lightly.

"I just think it would help to have someone to look at this stuff with. Maybe between the two of us we'll understand half of the lecture! I'm Heidi by the way." She stood up and offered me her hand. She was almost a head taller than me, and she had legs that went on forever. She could give even Rose a run for her money in that department.

"I'm Bella." I forced a smile. Could I not meet one person who was average looking? Was I destined to hang out with beautiful women my entire college career? This didn't bode well for me. We exchanged numbers and I headed back toward the dorm.

I was starving when I got back. No one was in their room. Eating lunch by myself was less than appealing, but it looked like that was my only option. I would have to make plans to avoid this in the future. I hopped on the elevator and went down to the dining hall.

***

I brought my backpack down with me, thinking that at least I could hide in a book while I ate. I found a quiet corner to hunker in and opened up my pre-calculus book. I was picking at the sandwich on my plate and absentmindedly flipping through my book when I heard someone clear their throat in front of me.

I looked up and saw Edward standing across the table holding a tray. He smiled meekly.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" he said. I started at him blankly for a minute before I realized he was waiting for me to say something.

"Yeah, of course. Sorry…" I started pushing my books over to clear a space for him. I started blushing again, of course. Why was I always apologizing when I saw this boy? I kept my eyes down while I came to the realization it was just the two of us and I was going to have to carry on a conversation with him. Panic started to set in. I saw his hand reach over and flip to the cover of my textbook.

"Pre-calc?" he asked.

"Yep." _Come on, you can do better than one syllable answers! Try again Bella._ I looked up at him. "I'm not really into math, but who is? It's just for general requirements and everything, you know..." I shrugged my shoulders. That seemed safe. He smiled quickly.

"So no math. What do you want to study? What are you planning on majoring in?" he asked.

"Well, I'm not sure. I like English Literature. But that's not really a practical choice. I guess you could say I'm still on the fence. I'm mostly concentrating on my generals while I figure it out." I risked a look up at his face. I hadn't really been planning on telling him quite that much, but something about his presence made me drop a couple IQ points, which in turn seemed to limit my ability to control my word vomit. He was still smiling at me.

"What about you? Do you have a plan?" I asked.

Now it was his turn to look shy. He coughed quietly and shifted in his seat.

"You could say I have a plan," he said. I nodded my head, encouraging him to go on. "I'm planning on a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering." _Whoa. Edward is a genius. Good to know._

"And what does one do with a degree in Aeronautical and Astro Engineering?" _God did_ _I get that right?_ I think so, for the most part.

"Well, the end plan is to become an astronaut. I mean, it's a lengthy process. After I get my bachelor's degree I'll need 1,000 hours of flight experience because I want to be a pilot. I'll need to pursue a doctorate degree. Then I'll apply to the astronaut training program. That lasts two years. After that they select who they want from the graduating class." He looked at me without blinking, the sweetest, most sincere expression on his face.

_Oh my God he's serious. Allow me to amend, Edward is a SUPER genius. _I couldn't decide on a major and he had a ten year plan to become an astronaut! That was…._hot_. My mouth was still hanging open while I tried to think of something intelligent to say. Had I just told him I couldn't handle pre-calc? _Crap!_

"An astronaut." It even sounded odd coming out of my mouth. People don't actually become astronauts. "What's the back up plan? Rocket scientist?" I teased.

Silence. Edward was looking at me with a stoic expression on his face. _Oh. My. God_. Apparently I was destined to keep my foot shoved in my mouth.

"That is sort of the plan," he mumbled.

"Oh. Well at least I know where to go for math tutoring!" I tried one more time. He smiled widely at me.

"Anytime you need anything, Bella," he winked at me and stood up. "I have to get to class. I'll see you later." He turned and sauntered toward the door.

I wasn't sure what had just happened. The entire conversation had been a train wreck. I had embarrassed myself half a dozen times, at the very least. I had confirmed that not only was Edward a total babe, but he was also a complete brainiac. _A brainiac who I told_ _that I couldn't do math and had no long term plan_. But I couldn't help shake the feeling that just before he left he was flirting with me. _Don't be silly Bella. He was just offering to help with your math._

I shook my head and packed up. I decided to head back up to the room and see if Alice was back yet.


	5. Chapter 5

Epov

It wasn't easy to get over the utter mortification of my overconsumption and subsequent puking, especially since Emmett brought it up continuously for the next two days. I tried to put it behind me by throwing myself into planning for the start of the semester. I already had all my books and most of my materials. I still went with Jasper and Emmett to the bookstore. I wanted to pick up extra supplies and make sure there weren't any additional supplemental readings listed for my classes. And truthfully, even though I was getting endless shit for "being a lightweight" drinker, I really liked Jasper and Emmett. It was easy to spend time with them and the three of us fell into a rhythm over the next few days.

The day before class was scheduled to start I stood looking at my desk. I had all of my supplies organized across the top of it. Stacked on top of my laptop I had notebooks and folders for each of my courses. The textbooks I would need, in order, were stacked next to that. I had tried to make sure I had a start in each of them. It was a little tricky because I knew not all my professors would start on chapter one and I couldn't get a hold of all of my syllabuses ahead of time. I also had a large collection of writing utensils. Black, blue, and red pens. Mechanical pencils with lead refills. Yellow, pink, orange, blue, and green highlighters. It may have been a little over the top, but I had a system for note taking and it required color coding.

I had closed myself up in my room for most of the day so around six I decided to head out for a run. I popped next door before I left. Emmett was sitting in front of his computer.

"Hey man, I'm headed out for a run," I said.

"Yeah, sure. See ya in a while," he mumbled. I wasn't sure he had really heard me, but whatever. I don't know why I felt the need to tell him where I was going. I guess my full college independence hadn't set in yet.

The run was just what I needed. It gave me time to let my mind wander. I was excited for my classes to start. I had been working on my career plan for a long time, and it felt great to be starting. I was also excited about the possibility of running into Bella again. I had been waiting for an opportunity over the last few days to casually suggest we all hang out again, but I hadn't found one yet. She seemed interested the night of the party…up until I soaked her in beer, of course. I winced a little at the memory. Well, we're all allowed one not-so-smooth moment, right? I'll just have to step up my game that's all.

I got back up to my room after seven and found the hall empty. I checked my board on the door. No note. Nothing on Ben's door, or Jasper and Emmett's. I shrugged and headed toward the showers. Three hours later I heard familiar voices in the hall. I leaned out my door and saw Jasper, Emmett, Ben and Eric wandering down the hall.

"Where have you been?" Emmett's voice boomed. I shook my head at him.

"I told you Em. I went out for a run." Ben and Eric slid into their room, Jasper and Emmett came into mine. "Where have _you guys_ been?" I asked.

"We've been hanging out with the girls, Bella and Alice had everyone over," Emmett said. _What?!_ They were in Bella's room!

"Why didn't you leave a note?" I demanded. Emmett gave me a funny look.

"It really wasn't that big of a deal, Jasper ran in to Alice and she invited us over," Emmett shrugged. At least it was Alice. Bella hadn't actually been the one inviting. _Was that good or bad? _Either way I had missed out on time with Bella.

"Speaking of which, Jasper, it seems like you've been _running into_ Alice and awful lot lately." Emmett narrowed his eyes at Jasper.

"That's funny, I was just about to ask you how things were going with Rose, you two looked awful cozy," Jasper grinned at Emmett. What had happened here? I left the dorm alone for the first time in three days, for an hour, and these guys were on their way to getting their dream girls, and I was…I don't even know where I was.

"It wouldn't have been hard to leave a note, I mean there is a board on all of our doors," I was irritated now. Jasper and Emmett looked back at me, they had clearly moved on.

"Listen we're really sorry, we didn't think you would care. Nothing personal," Jasper said. I could tell by the look on his face he thought I was a little overly upset about missing the party.

"Yeah, it's no big deal, whatever." I went and slumped down on my futon. I just wanted to be alone to mope. I couldn't believe I had missed my opportunity. I couldn't resist. "Did anyone ask about me?" There, that didn't sound girly at all. _Yeah right._

"Were you hoping for anyone in particular?" Emmett grinned. "That Jessica girl was there." _Jessica, who was Jessica? _"And Angela and Ben of course. And Bella….,"he shot me a look. "But she was talking to Eric most of the night." _Eric! You've got to be kidding_ _me with this guy_. I glared back at Emmett. I know it wasn't his fault if Bella had a thing for Eric, but he had forgotten about me, so for right now I was going to blame him. Emmett looked on the verge of giggling. This was so not funny. Jasper looked over at me.

"She didn't look to happy about it though," he said. I took a grain of hope from Jasper's comment. "Listen I'm going to have lunch with Alice tomorrow, I could ask about her if you want?" I considered it for a second, but I wanted to do this myself. It seemed juvenile to send Jasper in undercover; I had never needed the extra help before.

"No, that's ok. Thanks though." I smiled, thinking I might still have a chance after all. Just then Emmett finally broke out laughing. He also broke out into a chorus of "Edward and Bella sitting in a tree…"

"Okay guys, that's quite enough for one night. I've got an early class." I ushered then into the hall, Emmett still singing at full volume.

***

My morning classes went smoothly. I had just gotten into the dining hall and picked a spot near a window. I was running through my afternoon schedule in my head when I saw her.

Bella was sitting across the cafeteria from me. The sun that was coming in from the windows caught her chestnut hair and pulled out red undertones. She was sitting by herself with her head in a textbook. I was pretty sure she hadn't seen me yet. I could still get up and walk over there. She wouldn't notice me changing spots. _So what if she did?_ _We were friends-right? I mean we knew each other at least._

I picked up my tray and maneuvered my way over to her. She was still looking down at her book chewing on her bottom lip. She hadn't noticed my approach. I cleared my throat. She looked up, startled. I smiled at her.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" I asked. She continued to stare blankly at me. _Huh. What_ _does that mean?_ I debated slowly backing away from the table-maybe she would forget I was ever here? Then she looked down and started pushing her books out of the way.

"Yeah, of course. Sorry…" I could see her cheeks turning pink. There was an awkward pause. I looked around the table searching for something to say. School. _School was safe_. I reached over to see what book she was looking through. _Ahhh Math. I can do math talk_.

"Pre-calc?" I asked.

"Yep." She squirmed in her seat a little and then lifted her head until our eyes met. She seemed to be debating something. "I'm not really into math, but who is? It's just for general requirements and everything, you know..." she shrugged. _Okay no math talk_. I smiled at her while I quickly changed my conversation strategy. At least she was talking to me; this was a step in the right direction.

"So, no math. What do you want to study? What are you planning on majoring in?" I asked. There, that was good. I would just follow her lead. And I was dying to know what she was interested in; it was like unlocking a puzzle. She looked down again and started doodling patterns with her finger on the table.

"Well, I'm not sure. I like English Literature. But that's not really a practical choice. I guess you could say I'm still on the fence. I'm mostly concentrating on my generals while I figure it out." She stuttered a little at the end. Then shot a quick look up before darting her eyes back down and resuming tracing patterns.

Well, that hadn't been what I was expecting. What a contradiction. She didn't really have a plan, but only because she wanted her plan to be practical. I wanted to ask her about her favorite authors, what kind of books she read, but before I got the chance she looked back up at me.

"What about you? Do you have a plan?" she asked. How had I not seen that coming? I debated how to tell her my plans without coming across, well, like a giant nerd.

"You could say I have a plan," I said. I paused to gauge her reaction. Not bad so far. "I'm planning on a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering." Something flashed across her eyes, too quick to know what she was thinking.

"And what does one do with a degree in Aeronautical and Astro Engineering?" she asked sincerely. Might as well put it all out there. Women like men with goals right?

"Well, the end plan is to become an astronaut. I mean, it's a lengthy process. After I get my bachelor's degree I'll need 1,000 hours of flight experience because I want to be a pilot. I'll need to pursue a doctorate degree. Then I'll apply to the astronaut training program. That lasts two years. After that they select who they want from the graduating class." I said. I watched her carefully for a reaction, any reaction, but all I got was a blank stare. What had she said earlier, she didn't like math. She had checked out. I was boring her. _Talk about_ _school, brilliant plan!_ Next time music, music is much safer. Next time, right, this girl was going to be avoiding me in the halls.

"An astronaut. What's the back up plan? Rocket scientist?" she laughed lightly. Well this just gets worse and worse.

"That is sort of the plan," I mumbled. _Get out of this conversation before things get worse!_ Then she suddenly smiled at me.

"Oh. Well at least I know where to go for math tutoring!" she said. I smiled widely at her. I couldn't help it; maybe I could salvage this conversation after all, and then run while I was ahead.

"Anytime you need anything, Bella," I winked at her and stood up. "I have to get to class. I'll see you later." I turned and walked toward the door. Let her figure that out. Winking wasn't over the top, right? Maybe I was being too obvious. I was doing my best casual walk; it would have been ruined by swinging around to see if she was watching. It took all my energy to get out the door without a backward glance.

***

That evening I was sitting in Emmett and Jaspers' room.

"I'm telling you it was sweet!" Emmett exclaimed. He had spent the last thirty minutes describing a tattoo he had seen on a guy at the gym in detail. "I've been thinking about getting one."

"One what?" I asked. I knew I was egging him on a little, but Emmett was entertaining when he was worked up.

"A tattoo, of course. Something on my arm maybe." His eyes wandered off into thought. Jasper closed his book and spun around.

"Are you sure Emmett? They're rather…permanent."

"That's the idea. Hey, the guy from the gym gave me the name of the tattoo place he went to. Let's go check it out this weekend," Emmett said.

"I'll have to see, I promised Alice we would hang out this weekend, and I've already got a ton of school stuff to get started on," Jasper said spinning back around in his chair.

"Perfect! The girls can come with us!" Jasper and I both looked at him unconvinced. "Come on guys, worse case scenario, it's a great story."

Well, a tattoo parlor hadn't exactly been in my "weekend with Bella plans", but I guess you have to start somewhere.


	6. Chapter 6

Bpov

The end of the week and the next week went smoothly. I liked my classes for the most part. The drawing class I took with Alice was bearable, though as promised I was terrible.

Heidi and I agreed to meet before class on Mondays to review the week's homework. So far we had just looked at my work together and she agreed it was right. Amazingly enough, I hadn't really needed extra help yet.

The best part of my week turned out to be lunch with Edward. We met in the cafeteria Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We never really talked about the arrangement. I went down to the cafeteria and held my breath until I heard his tray slide down across from me and looked up to see his crooked smile. Some days I felt like we were playing twenty questions. He would lob questions at me for the thirty minutes he sat with me, he always seemed so interested in my answers. It was embarrassing at first, but I got used to it. I even got up the nerve to ask him some questions in return. We talked about everything: music, books, our parents, where we grew up. I don't know what it was about him, but I always answered him more honestly than I intended.

I told myself not to read anything into it. We both just ate at the same time. That was all. He never asked for my number or indicated he wanted to meet outside of lunch, so I just went with it. At the very least, he was turning into a great friend.

***

Epov

I decided the best approach with Bella would be a slow one. I wanted her to be comfortable around me. Our schedules worked out perfectly and we got to share lunch, just the two of us, three days a week. I look forward to when I knew I would see her and days when I didn't seemed longer.

It was Saturday, and I was going to get some extra Bella time. We had joked over lunch on Friday about Emmett's insistence on checking out the tattoo place. From what I gathered through Bella, Rose was not happy. All the same, it was Saturday night and the six of us were piled in Emmett's black SUV and headed down to this tattoo parlor.

We pulled up to a sketchy brick building and went through the marked door. It led us up a stairwell which opened up into a surprisingly bright parlor. It was divided into two spaces. To the left was the tattoo portion of the shop. There was an entry room with walls covered in pictures of tattoos; tables lined the wall, piled high with photo albums containing even more pictures. The actual tattooing happened in the rooms behind that. To the right it looked like they did piercings. Emmett had set an appointment to meet with a tattoo artist so he went off to find him; I guess the guy was good since he had to wait a week to see him. Rose, Jasper, and Alice disappeared into the shop. I found myself staring at a wall of tattoo options next to Bella.

She turned toward me smiling.

"I found just the one for you," she said, suppressing a giggle. I raised an eyebrow and looked where she was pointing. She had picked out some sort of pink haired fairy princess about the size of my palm.

"Hmmm," I looked at her incredulously, "Not really the look I think I would go for." She tilted her head and smiled sweetly.

"Ahh, come on. You could put it right here." She poked my chest and looked up at me through her lashes finally letting out a small laugh. "Show off your feminine side." I was working to keep my expression and my breathing normal. I'm not sure where this confident flirty Bella came from, but I was definitely on board. I took a step toward her giving her my best cocky smile. She stumbled back half a step and her cheeks started to turn pink, but her eyes were still full of laughter.

"And what about you, Bella? What should you get?" I glanced at the board next to us and saw a pretty chain of purple flowers. It seemed appropriate somehow. "What about this? Small, delicate. You could put it right here." I reached my arm around her and trailed my fingers up her shoulder blade. The look on her face changed slightly and she bit her bottom lip. It was a nervous habit I had noticed before. She drew in a ragged breath and moved slightly closer to me. I leaned my face closer to her taking her movement as my cue.

"Hey you guys, I have the best idea!" Alice came screeching around the corner shouting at full volume. Bella jumped and dislodged herself from me. When I turned back to her she was three feet away and bright red.

"Alice, I can't imagine what you're planning, but I'm going to go ahead and guess I'm not interested," Bella sighed.

It was amazing really. Not thirty minutes later Alice had convinced Rose and Bella it would be a great bonding idea to get their belly buttons pierced. I made a mental note to never be on the wrong side of an argument with Alice. Bella had been avoiding eye contact with me since our near could have been should have been a kiss episode_. I could_ _recover from this_. I'm not saying I wasn't disappointed, but maybe a tattoo parlor wasn't the most romantic place for a first kiss. I could play it cool. I walked up next to the jewelry case she was looking in.

"That one." she pointed down at a simple post. It had a silver ball on one end and a dark blue stone on the other. I started thinking about the contrast it would create on Bella's skin, which led me to thinking about the curve of Bella's waist, which led me to thinking about Bella without a shirt, which led me to decide I needed to start thinking about something else.

"Nice pick." I muttered. She turned her head and seemed surprised to see me standing there.

"It's my birthstone. I can't believe I'm agreeing to do this, at least I can keep it kind of my style right?" she smiled slightly.

"I'm going first," announced Rose. She turned to Emmett, who had reappeared from the back. "And you're coming with me. I want to keep an eye on you. I have a feeling that if I left you alone for more than five minutes I would find you with a steam boat tattooed across your chest…" Emmett laughed.

"I don't know, I think I could make a steam boat look good." He pulled into a ridiculous weight lifter pose. Rose rolled her eyes. The door behind her opened and a tall strawberry blonde stepped through. She was beautiful, but that was hardly the first thing you noticed about her.

I don't know that there was a surface on her that wasn't pierced. Studs and hoops ran the length of both ears. Her face was peppered with metal. She had piercings in her nose, lip, and through both eyebrows.

"I'll take whoever is first." she said sweetly. Rose grabbed Emmett's arm and towed him through the door and shut it behind them.

"This will work out perfect!" announced Alice. "Jasper can come with me and Edward can go with Bella." Alice spun around and started asking the Goth woman behind the counter about each of her piercings and tattoos. She seemed more than willing to indulge Alice and Jasper leaned next to her. Bella looked up at me.

"You know you don't really have to…" she started.

"I would love to," I assured her, giving her my best smile. Her shoulders relaxed a little and then suddenly tensed again.

"You don't think there'll be blood, do you?" Her eyes went wide. "I don't do so well with blood." I had no idea. In truth I had never even seen an ear get pierced but I'm sure they had a system down. I didn't want her to worry, since there was no way Alice was letting her back out of this.

"No, no I'm sure there isn't." I tried to sound convincing. She seemed to relax again so it must have done the trick. The door behind us opened and Rosalie and Emmett emerged. Rose looked okay. Emmett on the other hand looked a little green.

"Who's next?" the piercer asked.

"I'm going," Bella walked confidently in to the room. She was apparently over her reservation and moment of concern. I had barely registered that she had volunteered to go and she was in the room. I stumbled after her and turned when I heard the door shut behind me. The strawberry blonde walked into the room toward a chair that looked liked it belonged in a doctor's office. She held out her hand to Bella.

"I'm Tanya. Have a seat and we'll get you pierced." Bella took her hand and hopped up on the table. She looked calm, confident. _She was brave_. I'll add that to the Bella personality traits list. She lay down on the table while Tanya arranged the tools next to it. I looked at the table of instruments and then thought better of it. I was starting to think this may be more involved than piercing an ear. I looked at Tanya instead. She had a soft sweet demeanor, which was in direct contrast to the shear amount of metal in her face and the outfit she was currently sporting. She was wearing a pair of knee high platform leather boots over a pair of black fish nets. On top she had a fitted black dress with a cap sleeve.

She leaned over Bella and pushed her top up. Okay, I clearly hadn't thought about the repercussions of watching Bella get pierced. Her shirt was tucked just high enough that I could see the edge of Bella's lace bra. _Black. _Her skin was perfectly smooth and waist had the perfect soft curve to it. It seemed like Tanya's hands lingered a little too long…but it could have been wishful thinking.

"Okay, sweetheart, I'm just going to get everything prepped and I'll let you know when we're ready," she said. She continued to pay attention to Bella's waist line as they chatted casually with each other. I needed a distraction. Watching Tanya's hands on Bella wasn't good for me.

I looked around the room. The walls contained pictures of what I would guess to be past clients. I had just found a particularly disturbing picture, _some things shouldn't be_ _pierced_, when I heard of voice behind me.

"Alright, handsome, are you going to hold your girl's hand? I'm ready to go." I turned around and saw Tanya smiling and Bella turning the deepest shade of red. _Yes, I am ready to hold my girl's hand. _

"We're not…I mean he's not….we're just friends," stuttered Bella. I crossed the room and laced my fingers with hers. She shot me a nervous look. For second I wondered if she was nervous because she had announced that we were friends or about getting her belly button pierced. Then I saw what Tanya was holding. Definitely about getting her belly button pierced.She leaned over Bella's stomach.

Bella's fingers tensed around mine. I squeezed back without thinking and gave her a reassuring smile. She gave me a tight smile in return. Her whole body looked tense. I wasn't doing a great job comforting, but I wasn't sure what to say. This was not a situation my mother had prepared me for. She had prepped me more for holding open doors and paying appropriate compliments.

"Done! Oh this gonna be hot," Tanya sighed as she admired her work. "You can sit up." I adjusted my grip so she could swing her legs around. I wasn't really ready to let go of her. I looked at her stomach while she steadied herself. Her shirt hadn't quite fallen back down yet. _That was hot_. I felt Bella's grip on my arm loosen and I looked up just in time to see her start to sway.

I reacted automatically as she slumped sideways off the table. Suddenly, I found myself holding Bella bridal style just in front of the table. She weighed almost nothing in my arms and it was nice to feel her body heat against mine. Then I remembered she was unconscious. _Don't be creepy._ I looked down at her and her eyes started to flutter. She looked up at me confused. Tanya's voice intruded my daydream.

"Oh, sorry hon, that happens sometimes if you sit up too fast. You seemed okay," she shrugged.

"I'm fine. I think I forgot to breathe," Bella turned pink and laughed awkwardly. "Umm Edward?"

"Yeah?"

"You can put me down now." I was still holding her. It was my turn to blush.

"Sorry," I muttered. I put her on her feet, but kept my arms under hers until I was sure she was steady. "Are you sure you're okay? I don't mind carrying you." I tried a suggestive smile on her. Okay, maybe it wasn't the right time, but you can't blame a guy for trying.

"No, no I'm fine," I suppose I should have seen that coming. Brave and stubborn. She looked up at me her brown eyes in full effect. "There's no way we can keep this just between the two of us?" She smiled meekly. I grinned back at her. _Just the two of us._

"Yeah, no problem." I said.

***

Bpov

I was still floating from Saturday night. There seemed to be a turn in my relationship with Edward. I risked being a little flirty with him and he had been receptive, I was sure of it. I was excited to see Edward at lunch, so maybe that's why I wasn't thinking clearly when Heidi called that morning. She couldn't meet at our normal time and wouldn't be in class, so I told her we could meet up at lunch for a few minutes; she had seemed desperate to review our homework.

That's how it had started. She sat down and started casually chatting about all the parties she had been to over the weekend while she copied my homework. _Yes, copied. _I was starting to doubt that the point of these meetings was to mutually help each other. Then Edward had gotten there just a little earlier than usual. Now I was sitting next to Heidi and across from Edward watching her give him bedroom eyes. _This was not happening._

"So, Edward, what are your interests?" she asked batting her eyelashes at him. I mean, really, who bats their eyelashes? He coughed and shifted a little.

"I'm a math and science guy, I guess you could say," he responded. That was strange, why hadn't he given her the whole run down like he did with me? Was that good or bad?

"Oh, really? I've been thinking of teaching math, maybe we could get together and talk about classes sometime." She smiled. He seemed to relax a little.

"Yeah, sure." _What had just happened?_ One, Heidi had told me she was thinking of an English major. Two, had she just asked him out? No, it was about school. Edward was a nice guy; he had offered to help me with my math. _Remember how you_ _thought that meant he was interested?_

She slid a piece of paper across the table to him.

"Here's my number. Call anytime." He smiled at her. Arrow through the heart.

"Well, I better get going. Class. Uhhh, bye Bella. Nice to meet you, Heidi." I nodded at him. I had been mute almost the entire conversation. What was the point? I felt tiny sitting next to Heidi. Maybe this would just blow over. I could forget this happened and try again on Wednesday. Heidi turned to me a little too eagerly.

"Wow, Bella. He's perfect," she gushed. _Tell me about it._ "He's just what I'm looking for. And did you feel the energy between us?" _What?!_ I can't believe I had just introduced them. I could kick myself. Rewind! Rewind! I want a do over!

"Oh!" She looked at me like something had just occurred to her. "I mean it's okay with you, right? I was totally getting the friend vibe between you guys. I mean you didn't seem his type. But I wouldn't want to overstep or anything." I think my heart stopped, about the same time the whole room seemed to move in slow motion for a second. I can't believe I had thought I had a chance beyond the friend zone. Thank God I hadn't embarrassed myself more than necessary.

"We're just friends," I mumbled.

"Perfect!" she was glowing. "Maybe we can double or something. My roommate's brother doesn't get out very often. I could set you two up!"

This day couldn't be over soon enough. To add injury to insult, I bumped my stomach standing up from the table. I had found that belly button piercings were particularly sensitive when they were new. Every time I bumped anything, which, let's face it, was often, I was treated to shooting pain through my entire stomach. I just loved Mondays.


	7. Chapter 7

Epov

I walked away from the table feeling oddly uncomfortable. I had been excited to see Bella. I thought we made some good progress over the weekend, and I was hoping lunch would hold more of the same. I got down to the cafeteria a little earlier than usual in the hopes I could get some extra alone time in, but when I arrived at our usual spot, Bella wasn't alone.

Her friend Heidi started with the heavy flirting the minute I sat down. I wasn't really sure what to do, so I tried to keep my answers to her questions vague. I didn't want her to think I was interested, but I also didn't want to be rude to Bella's friend.

Had I come on too strong on Saturday? Did Bella not want to be alone with me? She didn't seem very happy during lunch.

As much as I hated to admit it, I officially needed advice. Unfortunately, that would have to wait; I had a class to get to.

***

"Okay, so you like her. I don't get the problem. Ask her out." Emmett looked at me like I'd lost my mind.

"You don't understand. Jasper, you get it, right?" I was hoping someone understood how sensitive the situation was.

"To be honest, I'm with Emmett on this one. You need to ask her out before you're irrevocably in the friend zone," Jasper said. _Huh?_

"How do I know if I'm in the friend zone?" Now I was worried.

"You're probably still okay, I mean it's only been like a month," Jasper said.

"Has she ever taken her shirt off in front of you, you know, not in the good way? That's a big sign," Emmett said thoughtfully.

"Emmett girls don't actually do that." _Do they?_ "And no she hasn't, the piercing thing doesn't count, right? I mean she didn't really take her shirt off, and we weren't alone." I looked over at Emmett.

"No, that doesn't count. And girls do in fact take their shirts off; maybe someday if you're really lucky you might be in the room for it," Emmett laughed. I chucked the closest magazine at him.

"Emmett, I've been in the room when a girl took her shirt off. You're not helping." Maybe asking Emmett for advice was a bad idea.

"Really? Now we're getting somewhere. Tell us more." He looked at me attentively. I rolled my eyes.

"Can we get back to my immediate problem? How do I figure out if Bella is interested?" I asked.

"Well, with Alice, after we had bumped into each other a couple times, it was obvious we had a connection," Jasper said thoughtfully. "Sounds like you feel that way about Bella. Here's what I did: the first couple times Alice and I met up it was in the laundry room."

"Very romantic," snickered Emmett.

"Keep going Jasper," I said, speaking over Emmett.

"Okay, so I went down there on a Tuesday night around ten, it's always empty then."

"How do you know that?" asked Emmett.

"That's not important. I set up the table we usually sit at with candles and a picnic table cloth, got some of her favorite stuff out of the vending machine, called and asked her if she could meet me there. She was touched that we had our first date, you know, in 'our place.'" Jasper looked at me expectantly.

"Okay Jasper. One, Bella isn't a girly girl like Alice. I don't think the frilly romantic stuff would do that much for her. Two, we don't have a 'place.' Unless you count the cafeteria, which is not romantic. Besides, I don't have access to it when it's empty…" I took a breath.

"Three," Emmett interrupted, "Do you have a penis?" Jasper narrowed his eyes and I stifled a laugh. I mean, Jasper's idea _was_ a little over the top.

"Okay, Edward, let me tell you how a man asks a woman out. I marched right up to Rose's room knocked on her door and said, 'Rosie baby, you're mine,'" Emmett grinned.

"And then she slapped you," Jasper said.

"Well, yeah, at first."

"You went over there three times. When you came back the third time your face was red for like five hours."

"But the fourth time, when I asked her out nicely, she totally kissed me." Emmett smiled, obviously pleased with himself.

"I can't tell you how incredibly unhelpful this has been," I sighed. "I'm just going to ask her out like a regular person." Now all I needed was a plan.

Bpov

Heidi followed me up to my room after lunch, grilling me about Edward the entire time. I sat in my desk chair and she sprawled out on our couch.

"Bella, college is the time to find a good man. And you've got to start early before the herd starts thinning," she looked at me seriously. "Now I get the sense that you're a bit of a loner, so I want to help you out." I cringed internally. I had been so sure this year was going to erase my past and here was tall, busty, and beautiful woman looking right through me.

"I mean, have you considered what you're looking for in a husband?" she asked. _A what?_

"Heidi, I'm eighteen. I'm not looking for a husband." She huffed at me.

"Of course you are! Why else would you date? Oh, you're going to need a lot help; it's a good thing I'm here. You should never date a man in college that isn't husband material. You can hook up with other guys, but that's a topic for a different day.

"There are some key points to look for in a guy. He should be smart, like Edward. Math and science are always good. Smart men have good careers. It helps if they come from money, then you know if their career doesn't pan you're still taken care of. I could tell from Edward's clothes that his family is well off. I mean, did you see his shoes?"

I never noticed his shoes before. We talked about our parents before, but he never mentioned being loaded. Although, when does that come up in casual conversation?

"And it goes without saying they should be good looking. I mean, you have to think about your kids. Edward and I will have beautiful children." She got a faraway look in her eye, clearly picturing her fairy tale life as Mrs. Edward Cullen.

This day was in a death spiral. It had started with such promise, and now Heidi was having imaginary babies with my crush.

"Don't look so worried, Bella. You could be girl-next-door cute if we put you together right. You should probably be able to get a pretty cute guy too. Some guys are really into that look." _Not Edward_. I felt like she may as well have said it. _Some guys_. I was a charity case.

"Okay, so here are some important tips. You should always be what people want you to be. If he's interested in math, then so are you. Your date is always funny. Laugh at his jokes. Always tell him it's your first time. Apply that rule wherever it seems to make sense. Men love being the first. You should only be hanging out in places where the right kind of men are. Study in the law library or the medical library."

"Oh God, I almost forgot! If they seem kind of sweet, like Edward, even better. They'll marry you because they love you, less chance you'll have to sign a pre-nup."

She was serious. She had really thought all of this through. I was hoping Edward and I could maybe get a burger some night. I had briefly imagined him kissing me goodnight. I certainly hadn't named our children or assessed the trust fund. Is that what he wanted? I sat in silence through her entire talk. I had no idea what to say. She glanced at her watch.

"I have to go. I'll see you in class," she said as she swept up her bag and walked to the door. "And Bella, as a friend, I noticed at lunch today you could really eat better. That junk food will all end up on your hips." And then she was gone, along with my dream of a burger with Edward. Apparently my hips couldn't handle a burger. I laid my head down on my desk and stared at my alarm clock. How was it only two?

A nap would make this day better. A nap made all things better. I curled up on the sofa and willed away the memory of my disastrous afternoon.

_Edward holds Heidi in his arms. _

"_You're right, Heidi darling. We will have beautiful children. I'm so glad I found someone as beautiful and perfect as you." He leans down to kiss her._

I woke with start. Oh perfect, just perfect. I couldn't even nap.

"Good morning, Bella," came a voice from behind me.

"Ahhhhhh!" I landed on the floor with a thump, twisting around to find the source of the voice. Eric was sitting in my desk chair.

"Eric, what are you doing in my room?" I sputtered.

"Well I knocked, but you didn't answer, so I let myself in," he said.

"I was asleep…"

"I know. I was waiting. Did you know you talk in your sleep?" he asked. _Oh crap_. I was aware I talked in my sleep, and I was more than a little creeped out that Eric had been sitting watching me.

"What do you need Eric?" Maybe that was too abrupt, but I still felt groggy and I just realized I was still on the floor.

"Oh nothing, I was just, you know, over here. I thought I would come visit you," he answered.

***

It was eight. I hadn't spoken to Eric for almost an hour, yet there he sat on our couch. Around six I excused myself to go down to the cafeteria to get dinner in the hopes he would take the hint. He hadn't. He followed me down and then back up again. It might have been bearable if he had spoken. He didn't though, he just sat there quietly. I tried to keep the conversation going for the first hour or so, but he answered every question with one or two words answers. Conversation got painful, fast. I was out of ideas, nothing made him leave. Frankly, I would have told him I was going to bed really early if I would have thought that would have worked. Every time I heard a voice in the hall I prayed they would stop in our room, but so far, no such luck.

Finally, Alice flitted through the door.

"Hey Bella!" she stopped and looked at Eric and then back to me. I gave her my best pleading expression. "Hi Eric."

"Oh, hi Alice," he looked at his lap. "Well, I guess I should be going…." he stammered.

"Bye," I said without looking up. I heard him leave the room and let out a huge sigh.

"What was that about?" asked Alice.

"I honestly have no idea. I'm just hoping there isn't a repeat in my future."

The rest of the week followed in equally disastrous fashion. On Tuesday in our art class the teacher used my drawing as an example of what-not-to-do in front of the entire class. While Alice was sympathetic, her drawing was the how-to-do-this-correctly example, so I wasn't really comforted.

Lunch on Wednesday with Edward was horribly awkward. He kept opening his mouth and closing it again. I couldn't figure out what he was trying to spit out, until finally he managed, "How's your friend Heidi?"

By Thursday, I was officially ready to crawl into my bed and never come out. My day was finally over and I sighed in relief as I walked toward the door of my dorm room. Alas, relief was not to be mine. My foot snagged on the door jamb and before I could get my hands in front of me I found myself flat on my face on our floor. The tears that had been threatening all week spilled over, I couldn't help it. Before I knew it, I was sobbing hysterically into the thin, rough carpeting.

"Oh my God, Bella! Are you okay? Is your nose broken? Are you bleeding?" Alice rushed to my side. I rolled toward her.

"No I'm not okay. I'm fat and ugly and awkward. And Heidi is going to marry Edward and make pretty babies with nice shoes," I started sobbing again. Alice sat in silence for a minute.

"Bella, honey, you're none of those things. Did something happen with you and Edward?" she asked. I found myself retelling Heidi's pep talk on Monday and explaining my mortification at thinking Edward might have been interested in me.

"Sweetie, you're not the one off base here. We are going to have a nice long talk when I get back from my date, but for now I think we should fill in Rose," she sighed. I wasn't sure I wanted anyone else to know, but maybe Rose could help. I sat up and wiped my eyes.

"You finish getting ready, Alice. I'll go get her." I stood up and headed next door, taking care to take an exaggerated step over the door jamb. I poked my head in the open door.

"Rose?"

"She's not here. She's on her date with Emmett," replied Jessica.

"Oh." It was all I could think to say.

"What's wrong, were you crying?" she asked. I noticed Lauren sitting on their couch she glanced up and looked me over.

"I guess you could say it's been a bad week. Alice is going on a date tonight to so I was just looking for Rose," I responded.

"You know what you need?" Jessica asked. "A party! Come with us, we know some guys throwing a party up on the eighth floor. It'll be fun, come on Bella. Thirsty Thursday!" I glanced in Lauren's direction.

"Yeah, you should totally come," she deadpanned. Okay, so Lauren didn't want me to go. A party with Jessica and Lauren would still be better than sitting in my room alone.

"Okay Jessica, just let me get changed and cleaned up," I said. Jessica clapped her hands happily.

"Oh this is going to be so much fun!" she squealed. I walked back in my room and found Alice ready to go with a purse slung over her shoulder.

"Rose is out with Emmett. Jessica invited me to a party with her and Lauren. I'm going to go, maybe it'll take my mind off things." I frowned; my week had been such a train wreck I didn't even know what I needed to be distracted from at this point.

"A party would be good… do you want me to go with you? I can reschedule with Jasper."

"No, don't be silly. I'm a big girl. I can handle it," I said smiling. I really didn't want her cancelling her date over my little breakdown, even though I was nervous about going out with just Jessica and Lauren.

"Maybe you could ask Angela?" she suggested.

"That's a good idea, Alice! She's probably over at Ben's. I'll swing through on our way up," I smiled, genuinely this time. I felt better already.

"On your way up? Where is this party?" she asked.

"I don't know, Jess said some guys on the eighth floor are having it," I shrugged.

"Oh," Alice looked concerned. "Ummm, I think I know which guys they're talking about."

"What's wrong?" It seemed like an odd reaction from her. Alice was always enthusiastic about a good party.

"The thing is… those guys are kinda of into the conquest. I've heard they keep lists."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I furrowed my eyebrows. Alice let out a big sigh.

"They compete to see who can get the most girls to do different, um, 'things.'"

"Oh. _Oh._ That's gross," I said.

"Yeah, but hey, it could still be fun. Just make sure you take Angela. And remember they can look, but they can't touch. I think they're harmless enough, just kind of douche bags," Alice shrugged. "Let me help you get ready."

"You'll be late," I protested.

"No, Jasper wasn't expecting me for another thirty minutes anyway," she laughed.

In the end, I was glad I let Alice help me. Forty five minutes later I was in an elevator with Jessica and Lauren and you would never have guessed what a sobbing mess I was earlier. Even though Alice didn't approve of the company at this party, she had insisted that I look my best. She thought that I should show them the kind of woman they wouldn't be getting. I shook my head at her. Maybe I wasn't fat and ugly, _maybe_, but I wasn't a prize catch. I doubt my cleavage was going to set them straight. I wasn't sure how Alice managed to get my cleavage to exist in the first place.

The door opened on the guys' fourth floor.

"I'll see you guys in a couple minutes," I said, leaving Jessica and Lauren on the elevator. Jessica had given me the room number. I started down the hall toward Ben's room. It suddenly occurred to me that I might run into Edward, or worse, Eric. I hadn't thought this through. _No problem, you can do this. Just stick to the mission_.

I got to Ben's door, but it was closed. I knocked, still hoping for a response. Nothing. I guess I was going it alone. I looked down the hall. Emmett and Jasper's door was closed, but I knew where they were. Edward's door was closed. No light, sounded quiet. I wonder where he is. None of my business. I turned and started back toward the elevator.

I almost made it there when someone came barreling around the corner and almost knocked me over. He caught me, thankfully. I noticed I had made contact with a bare chest. I looked up to see who it was that still had a grip on me. _Oh, great. _I thought I remembered his name being Mike. He was half naked the last time I saw him too. Now I was standing in the hallway being held onto by a strange guy wearing nothing but athletic shorts_. This week rocks_.

"Excuse me," I tried to push around him. He didn't let go, he dragged behind me half a foot.

"Hey, don't I know you? You're cute," he slurred. Good, he had already started his night.

"No, we don't know each other," I responded. I was still making progress toward the elevator, even with him attached to my arm.

"Well then we should get to know each other. How about you come to my room?" he asked. This guy didn't lack confidence, I had to give him that. I stood, mashing the up button on the elevator, willing it to come faster.

"I don't think so." The elevator door opened. Mike showed no signs of letting go, and I was desperate for escape. "Sorry, I have to go now. My really big, muscled, probably steroid raging boyfriend is expecting me." He let go of my arm. _There we go_. I slid into the corner of the elevator a pushed the close door button until I was safely alone.

I got to the room number that Jessica had given me; I could hear the music thumping through the door. I reached up to knock and the door swung open. A dark haired guy with olive skin was standing inside the door. He reached out his had to me.

"Laurent," he said taking my hand.

"Hi, I'm Bella. Jessica and Lauren's friend," I smiled. He led me in the room by the hand and swung the door shut behind me.

"Nice to meet you Bella," he said. The room was full of people. It was a larger room then I had seen before. A quick look around I noticed there were three beds in the room. Maybe that explained the size of the room. I didn't know there were triples available.

Laurent looped his arm around my waist and led me further into the room.

"Your friends are over here," he said. On the way across the room he nodded his head at a number of guys and whispered names in my ear.

"That's one of my roommates Felix, his friend Demetri. The little guy is Alec." I followed his gaze. He wasn't kidding. Alec looked even shorter than my towering 5'4". He had a baby face. I wondered if he was a Doogie Howser type, some sort of child prodigy. I guess he probably wouldn't be living in the dorms then.

We made it across the room to Jessica and Lauren. Lauren was flirting shamelessly with some nondescript blonde and Jessica was standing next to her looking bored.

"And my other roommate James," Laurent finished. James looked over from Lauren and met my eyes briefly before openly checking me out head to toe. _See Alice, no reformed_ _souls here!_ "It was nice to meet you, Bella." With that Laurent wove his way back to the door.

"Where's Angela?" Jessica asked.

"She wasn't in Ben's room," I shrugged. Jessica and I wormed our way into a card game going on with a group on one of the beds. To be honest, I did understand the rules at all, but I drank when someone told me to. I had a little bit of a buzz going, but nothing too big. I did have to go to class in the morning, and even though everyone had seemed harmless enough, I took Alice's warning seriously. Jessica held up her drink.

"I'm out," she announced. I looked down.

"Me too, Jess. I'll grab us refills." I grabbed our cups and made my way over to the makeshift bar. Jessica was actually an okay time when she wasn't with Lauren. I wondered why she didn't hang out with us more often. There was a line in front of me so I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes for a second.

"Having fun?" I opened my eyes. Laurent's roommate James stood in front of me, one arm on either side of me, effectively pinning me to my spot on the wall. _Shit. _I gave him a tight smile.

"Yeah, great party. Just getting refills for my friend and I." I held up our cups lamely. He took half a step closer to me, bringing our bodies just a little closer than normal conversation distance.

"I'm glad you're here. I can't believe we haven't been introduced already. I make it my business to know all of the beautiful woman in this dorm." He smiled and slid just a little bit closer. He had to be kidding. Who did these lines work on? Just then I caught sight of Lauren glaring at us from across the room. Oh right, that's who.

"It looks like my friend is missing your company," I offered. He didn't turn his head; instead he leaned over and whispered in my ear.

"Just so you know, I'm the nicest guy in the room right now." _What?_ Who was he kidding? He was the only guy in the room who had me pinned to a wall. I'm pretty sure that disqualified him from the nicest guy in the room title by default.

"A pretty girl like you deserves a nice guy to pay some one-on-one attention to her." He smiled at me again.

"That's a sweet offer, but my other friend is expecting her drink. So, if you'll excuse me." I pushed slightly in the direction of the bar hoping he would get the idea. He didn't. This was not my night.

"Your friend doesn't mind waiting. Come on, don't you like nice guys?" he leaned down into my ear again. "Because I can be very _nice_." _Gross_. I was going to need a plan. _Think_ _quickly. Quicker!_

"I'm seeing someone," I blurted out. That was lame, but it should do the trick.

"He's not here," James stated. _You've got to be kidding me!_ Just then I saw the door open. Edward came through with some tall blonde guy. I was so happy to seem him, I swear he was glowing. So things had been a little awkward between us. So he was interested in my friend and not me. He had said if I need _anything_, right? Let's hope that offer still stood.

"Edward!" I called across the room. His head turned toward me. He looked angry. Well, that was no good, but at least he was coming this way. It wasn't that big of a room, so it only took a handful of strides for him to get to me. Too late now, plan 'further piss off Edward' was a go. "He's here now," I said.

James turned and caught sight of Edward, he slowly pulled on arm back. It looked like he was scared he might lose it. I took my opportunity and pulled myself into Edward's side.

"My mistake," muttered James.

"Don't make it again," Edward said coldly. James retreated back to Lauren. I let out a breath and turned my head toward Edward.

"Sorry about that, he wasn't taking no for an answer," I said. Then I realized I was still clutching him. Cue the blush. I took half a step back and looked up. Dang, he still looked mad.

"What are you doing hanging out with these kind guys alone? You should be more careful," he huffed. Now I was getting annoyed. I was already creeped out; I didn't need the lecture.

"I'm not alone, I'm here with Jessica and Lauren. I'm sorry to inconvenience you. If I knew you were going to get all pissy with me, I would have dealt with him on my own." I turned away from him and he caught my arm. I looked back and his face had softened again. He smiled his crooked smile at me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get all pissy with you," he looked like he was trying not to laugh, that didn't improve my mood. "Bella, this is my friend from high school, Peter," he gestured at the tall blonde.

"Nice to meet you, Bella."

"Same here, Peter." We stood awkwardly for a minute. Peter cut in finally.

"Listen I need to hang out for a little bit, but you guys can cut out if you want," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow anyway Edward."

"You know I think we might leave, I'll see you tomorrow," he fist bumped Peter who walked over to a conversation with Demetri and Felix. Edward looked at me, suddenly worried.

"I mean, unless you don't want to leave. We could stay," he said.

"No, if you don't mind Edward I'm ready to go." I waved at Jessica as we made our way to the door. I noticed someone else had gotten her a drink. Whoops, forgot about that. I wasn't too concerned with saying my goodbyes to Lauren.

Edward insisted on walking me back to my room, which was sweet. At least it didn't seem like he was still mad at me. We stood outside my door while I fumbled for my keys, Alice wasn't back yet.

"So, what are you and your friend doing tomorrow?" I asked. That seemed a safe topic.

"Umm, his frat is having a party actually. I said I would go." He paused and gave me a conflicted look. "You wouldn't want to come? I mean if you don't have plans tomorrow you could go…you know come with me," he stuttered. I stared at him for a second. Was he inviting me because he wanted me to come? Or did he feel obligated because I asked about his plans? Did he think I had been fishing for an invite? He swallowed and started again.

"Why don't I come by around nine thirty?" he asked.

"Okay." It was the only thing I could think to say. He smiled at me.

"Great! I'll see you then!" With that he spun around and was gone. Did I have a date with Edward Cullen? I had no idea.


	8. Chapter 8

Bpov

Heidi followed me out of math class, which wasn't our normal routine. She wasn't talking about anything in particular and by the time I got halfway back to the dorm I was getting more and more agitated. I really didn't want to bring her and Edward back together, and it was looking like she intended to follow me to lunch.

In a desperate move I veered toward the library.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"The library, I have some studying to do." _Studying that could wait till next week._

"Aren't you having lunch with Edward?" She looked disappointed.

"No." That wasn't technically a lie, it's not like we planned to meet.

"Oh, I was thinking I would ask him what he was doing this weekend. See if he had any plans tonight," she sighed. I'm not sure why I said it. It may have been something in her tone. She wanted to crash _our_ lunch to ask out _my_ Edward. I didn't really have a claim on him, and I wasn't sure that he had _meant_ to ask me to go out with him tonight, but I still didn't like the idea of them together.

"He's busy tonight. He's taking me to a party," I said. The second I saw the look on her face, I wished I could retract my statement. Shove it back to where ever it came from.

"Really…." she said slowly. "What party?" Too late to shut up now.

"A frat party, he knows someone." That was vague enough, right?

"Of course, he's going, everyone who's anyone will be there. I was actually planning on going too. This works out perfect! We can all go together," she exclaimed. _No! _Did she just steal my not-a-date-date? The look on my face must have translated my feelings pretty clearly.

"Oh, sweetie… you didn't think it was a date, did you? Men like Edward don't take dates to frat parties. What did he say to you exactly?" she looked at me expectantly. Again, I don't know why, but I heard myself repeating Edward's awkward invitation. Maybe Heidi was right. This was clearly not a date.

"Honey, he wasn't asking you out. He probably just felt obligated to invite you. You should make sure he knows you don't think it's a date. You don't want to make him uncomfortable!" she said.

And that's how, in less than twenty minutes, I went from excited about spending an evening with Edward to being horrified that I had once again misunderstood his intentions. Heidi planned on us all meeting in the lobby; she thought Edward would be uncomfortable picking me up in my room, even if he didn't say so. I was going to have to let him know about the change in our plans, but I would have to wait to go over to his room. He had class after lunch.

After ditching Heidi in the library I made my way back to my room. Alice helped me pick out an outfit. I told her I was going to a party with Edward, but I didn't have the heart to admit Heidi was coming too. I don't know why, but I thought it would irritate Alice. I did, however, make it clear to Alice that this _wasn't_ a date!

She tossed yet another strappy tank at me.

"Alice, it's October, I can't wear a tank top!"

"Haven't you ever heard of a liquid jacket? It will only be cold on the way there. Besides, you'll be wearing a lot less next weekend on Halloween." She smiled brightly, and my stomach sank a little. I agreed to join Alice and Rose in whatever their Halloween costume plans were. "Whatever you want" hadn't seemed like a bad idea at the time, but now I wasn't so sure. I was starting to regret it already, and I had only seen glimpses of what Alice had planned.

We had finally settled on a nice pair of jeans and a fitted tee which, in my opinion, dipped too low and stopped too high, but Alice insisted it was perfect. What was the point in having your belly button pierced if no one saw it? I was still reminded of that decision every time I rolled on to my stomach at night. _Mental note: ask about Emmett's tattoo._ I was holding him indirectly responsible for my impromptu piercing, and it would make me feel better if I knew that he suffered some kind of discomfort as well.

I looked at the clock, I had killed enough time. I needed to go tell Edward about the new plans and make sure he knew I understood this wasn't a date. _Sigh._

Epov

On Friday afternoon, I was walking on air. Tonight was my date with Bella. She wasn't in the cafeteria at lunch, but I didn't let that get to me. I got to Emmett and Jasper's room that afternoon excited to share the news.

"Hey man, what are you smiling about?" asked Emmett.

"I've got a date with Bella tonight," I replied happily.

"You asked her out! That's great. Where are you taking her?" asked Jasper.

"Well, my buddy Peter's frat is having a party," I started.

"Oh, please tell me you didn't," Jasper said.

"No, just wait. I ran into her last night, and she asked me what I was doing tonight, and I was like, going to a frat party, you should come." I paused and waited for the applause.

Emmett started laughing. Well, that's not what I was expecting.

"Edward, that is not a date. I doubt she even thinks it is, which is maybe for the best," said Jasper with a concerned look on his face.

"Dude," sputtered Emmett "It's like he's _trying_ to not get laid!"

"I know," agreed Jasper. What did they know? Of course Bella thought it was date. I had been clear it was a date. Hadn't I? Whatever, it didn't matter. It was going to be Bella and me alone… well, as alone as one gets at a frat party. Okay, maybe my plan was a little flawed.

"Whatever, you guys don't know her like I do. She'll think it's great," I snapped.

"Whatever you need to tell yourself, Eddie," chuckled Emmett.

"Don't call me Eddie," I grumbled.

"Hey." I spun around to the door, even though I didn't have to look to identify the voice. Bella was leaning in the doorway.

"Hey, Bella," I responded nervously. _She wasn't backing out was she?_

"Listen, you remember my friend Heidi, right?" she asked.

"Yeah," I replied. What did Heidi have to do with tonight? Maybe this had nothing to do with tonight. Maybe she needed help with her math homework. _Calm down. _She took a deep breath. She looked kind of nervous. What did she have to be nervous about?

"I ran into her before lunch, turns out she going to the party tonight too," Bella said with what sounded like fake enthusiasm. I still didn't understand. While _I_ certainly thought it was unfortunate that she was going to be there, why would Bella be upset? They were friends, right?

"Well, she thought it would make more sense for us all to go together. Would you mind just meeting down in the lobby around 9:30 instead? I mean, I figured you wouldn't mind if she came, it's not like it's a date or anything." She muttered the last part, but I heard it loud and clear. Based on the loud choking noise from behind me, Emmett had too.

"Ummm, yeah. Okay. I'll see you downstairs then," I responded. She looked behind me, concern painting her features.

"Emmett, are you okay?" she asked. I turned my head see Emmett turning an unnatural shade of red. He shook his head furiously. "Okay…" she said uncertainly. "I'll see you later, Edward." She turned and left.

I doubt she was more than a couple doors down when Emmett started roaring.

***

It was almost 9:30 and I was still annoyed about our change in plans, but I wasn't going to let it ruin the night. After Bella left, I begged Emmett and Jasper to bring the girls and come with us. I was sure Peter could still get them on the list. They apparently already had other party plans. I had my suspicions that they both thought the situation was too funny to interfere with, but we made plans to meet up later that night on our floor.

I walked into the lobby and spotted Heidi standing with some guy near the desk. Had she brought a date? Maybe I had totally overreacted. I didn't see Bella yet. I walked toward Heidi. She was wearing a tiny black tank top and a super short red skirt with a pair of spiky black heels. Not that it wasn't sexy, but she knew it was October right? She was going to freeze. I hope her date was prepared to give away his shirt later. She noticed me walking toward her.

"Edward! It's so nice to see you," she sang. I reached her and her companion near the door.

"Hi, Heidi. Have you seen Bella?" I asked. Heidi placed her hand on my arm.

"Nope," she answered. I thought it was odd she hadn't introduced her date, and he didn't look particularly comfortable either. Just then, Bella walked out of the opposite tower's door and headed toward us. She was walking toward us with a small smile. I couldn't help but notice she was looking directly at Heidi's hand on my arm. I pulled away from her quickly. Bella might not think this was a date, but I was hoping to move things in that direction.

She looked amazing. Her dark hair fell free in large waves. She was wearing a deep purple tee that clung to her slim frame and ended just shy of her dark blue jeans. I could see a tiny sliver of skin at her waist. A pair of black boots zipped over her jeans and ended just below her knee. She was wearing twice as many clothes as Heidi and still managed to look just as sexy.

"Hey guys," she offered a shy wave. I opened my mouth to answer, but Heidi stepped in front of me.

"Hey, Bella! This is my friend Sean," she pushed the guy next to her forward. "I think you two will really get along." There was no missing the suggestive edge in her voice. It occurred to me suddenly this guy wasn't Heidi's date, he was meant to be Bella's. Well that was no good. The only upswing was that Bella looked just as surprised by his appearance as I was.

"Hi, Sean. It's nice to meet you," she replied sweetly. There was a quiet pause where Bella stared at the floor, Sean stared at her, Heidi went back to patting my arm, and I glared in this Sean guy's direction. Then I realized they were probably waiting for me to lead the way.

"If you guys are ready…"

"Of course, Edward. Let's go," Heidi replied and looped her arm under mine. This night was not going as I planned at all. Oh well, I would have time at the party to set everybody straight. I led us out the door and onto the sidewalk.

As I suspected, Heidi's outfit didn't provide near enough coverage for an October evening. She spent most of the walk to the frat house clinging to my side and complaining about the cold. The large purse she had slung over her shoulder must have had something heavy in it because it kept swinging into me while she walked almost sideways in an attempt to press as much of her body against me as possible.

I had to admit, Heidi was an attractive girl. I mean, not the kind of girl I would keep around for the long haul, but if I wasn't desperately interested in the girl walking two feet behind us I would probably have been thoroughly enjoying the situation.

I spent most of the walk trying to listen to the conversation behind me. Bella was being polite, but it was easy to see she wasn't overly interested. Sean rambled on about his medical ambitions. _Pre-med, figures._ The party was just starting to get rolling when we got through the door.

We found a spot on the dance floor. I had been thinking about dancing with Bella since last night… well, if I was being honest, since that first weekend in September. Heidi, not surprisingly, had different plans. We broke into pairs and I didn't end up with the partner I wanted. This was going to be a real problem if it went on all night.

I positioned myself so that I could see past Heidi to Bella and Sean. Bella's back was to me so I couldn't see her face, but I was pleased she seemed to be keeping some space between Sean and herself. She hadn't done that with me. _You_ _didn't really offer her the choice. Shut up, that's not the point. _I saw him move closer. She backed up half a step. I really didn't like this guy. Plus, it was hard to concentrate on acting natural with Heidi grinding on my leg.

Then he made an unforgivable mistake. He reached behind Bella and grabbed her ass. I think the room actually went red. I saw her jump and wiggle away from him. _This ends now. _

"Sean and I are going to get drinks," I announced. He looked up at me, surprised. I don't know what he saw in my face, but he didn't argue. I felt a little guilty about leaving the girls all alone on the dance floor, but this guy needed to be taught some basic manners. Who the hell did he think he was? Did he think he had a right to touch Bella without her permission?

I followed him in to the kitchen, I wasn't sure what my plan was, but I was pretty sure it was going end with this guy sporting a black eye. I cornered him once we got into the kitchen. The room was crowded, but I managed to find a spot to back him against a wall. If this slime ball thought he was going to bust in on my date and then feel her up, he had another thing coming. What kind of guy man-handles a girl he just met, did he think that's what Bella wanted? Bella was a lady, and I was going to set this him straight. He looked scared already. Too bad, it wasn't going to be nearly as satisfying to crack his face open if he wasn't going to put up a fight.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I demanded.

"Uh, I don't…listen…what?" he stammered.

"What the hell do you think you are doing with Bella?" I was seething. He put his hands in the air.

"Listen, man, no disrespect meant. Heidi is in my afternoon class. I barely know the girl, she asked me to come with her tonight. Told me she had a hot friend looking for a hook up," he responded. _What!?_ That couldn't be true. Bella didn't look like she was trying to hook up with this guy. Either he was full of shit, or Heidi was. One problem at a time.

He was still standing against the wall with his hands up. He looked so pathetic that my anger waned a little. I had a bit of a temper and I had gotten into a few fights in high school. Never anything big, but I knew how to throw a punch and how to take one. I just couldn't stand it when assholes thought they could take advantage of woman. The last guy I had knocked out was cheating on Peter's little sister. She was so devastated when she found out, and she didn't want Peter to know, so I took care of it. It didn't look like it would have to come to violence tonight. I was glad; I didn't need the extra drama.

"Listen, Bella's with me." _Well, she will be._ "So I think it would be best if you suddenly had somewhere else to be. I'll tell the girls you're sorry you had to leave," I stared at him unblinking.

"Yeah, you know, I do remember another party I said I would be at," he said. He shifted, walking sideways and not taking his eyes off me until he cleared the kitchen. I felt better already.

"Hey, Edward!" I turned around and saw Peter standing by the kitchen island with his girlfriend Charlotte. "Shots!" he shouted. At this point, it couldn't hurt.

Peter talked me into a couple rounds of shots before I collected drinks for myself and the girls and headed back. I scanned the floor for them and saw them standing slightly off to the side. Bella's face was twisted and I saw her handing something to Heidi. Heidi tipped up the clear bottle and took a swig. Her face remained smooth while she screwed the cap back on and tossed the vodka bottle in her purse. I worked my way over to them and handed each of them a cup. Bella smiled up at me. Heidi craned her head looking behind me.

"Where's Sean?" she asked.

"Too much pre-partying I guess. He had to leave quickly," I shrugged. Heidi looked a little angry.

"He was fine a minute ago," she mumbled. I looked over. Bella was halfway through her drink and smiling at me.

"I want to dance," she said. I had been gone a while… but I was starting to wonder how much of the bottle in Heidi's purse had been drunk. Whatever. I wanted to have fun with Bella tonight, and the effect of my own shots was starting to settle in.

The three of us moved onto the dance floor again. I alternated dancing with the girls. It wasn't ideal, but at least I got to dance with Bella some of the time. When I wasn't dancing with her, I was watching her, not really so covertly.

Heidi took a break from grinding on my leg and leaned into my ear.

"Edward, you're the best dancer," she slurred slightly. I hadn't decided what to do about the Heidi situation just yet, but for now Bella seemed okay with it being the three of us. Bella was dancing with an empty cup. I pulled away from Heidi, not an easy task. Wrapping an arm around Bella, I grinned and turned back to Heidi.

"Refills," I said, lifting up my cup. We got to the kitchen successfully, got a new round of drinks and stayed for a round or two of celebratory shots. I don't know what we were celebrating, but everyone in the kitchen was excited for it, so what the hell. Bella was so sexy when she cheered with the group and raised her shot glass. I fought the urge to push her against the island and show her just how I felt. Then she winced as the shot went down and shook her head, making the most adorable face, and I remembered that Bella was a nice girl. _Nice girls don't like being groped in front of groups by drunk men_. Was I drunk? Yep. Definitely drunk.

Bella announced she wanted to go outside, so I led the girls out onto a porch. The porch was pretty crowded with smokers. I didn't normally smoke, and I didn't really like girls who did, but when I was drinking sometimes I indulged. _Just say no, kids. _We found a spot by the railing and I leaned against it between Heidi and Bella. Heidi was pressed against me again and running her hand up and down my arm. She not-so-subtly slipped her other hand under my shirt and slowly ran it across my lower abs. While I was trying to play it cool, I'm not going to lie, she had part of my body's full attention. I was going to need to stay away from her to avoid screwing things up with Bella.

Bella had been studying the guy next to her with the funniest look on her face for the last minute or so. He turned and grinned at her. I suppressed a growl. He flipped open his pack of cigarettes and offered her one. She looked at the pack with open fascination. Finally she shrugged, grinned at him, and pulled one out. I could no longer fight the urge to stake some claim and wrapped my free arm around Bella. The guy looked up at me, and then from Bella to Heidi, who was still busying her self under my shirt. He gave me a huge grin.

"Smoke?" he asked, holding out the pack. _When in Rome_.

"Thanks," I nodded at him.

"Me, too," pouted Heidi. She reached over for her own cigarette, which thankfully gave her hands something else to do. The guy handed me a lighter. I went to light Bella's first, but she was still rolling it over in her fingers like it was the most interesting thing she had ever seen. I turned to Heidi instead. I flipped the lighter and she had her cigarette lit with a deep drag in a second.

"Edward, I've never smoked before. This is my first time… you're such a bad influence," she giggled and winked at me. Then she inhaled and exhaled a perfect plume of smoke out her nose. _Right, first cigarette_. Something told me Heidi wasn't the kind of girl who had too many firsts left. I lit my own and turned to Bella, who was stilling rolling her cigarette around between her fingers. Better light this thing before she breaks it. I struck the lighter and held it out to her. She offered me the filter end. Chuckling, I took her cigarette and lit it with mine. She watched me, openly fascinated. I smiled at her as I handed it back to her.

"Have you ever done this before?" I asked.

"I haven't," chirped Heidi. Right, right. I rolled my eyes, and Bella started giggling. Yeah, she was definitely drunk too.

"It can't be that hard," she replied.

"Well, first of all you're almost out," I lifted her hand to my mouth and took a drag to keep her lit. I was happy to watch her mouth fall open slightly while she watched me. This was going well. I should keep it simple. "Don't swallow any smoke, that's a good place to start." She set out diligently trying to look natural; and for the most part she succeeded. She only had a minor coughing attack.

We had all just thrown our butts in the closest coffee can when Bella decided she needed another drink. She grabbed my hand and started pulling me back toward the kitchen. Even in my hazy state, I was pretty sure neither Bella, nor Heidi, who was struggling to stay upright on her heels, needed another drink, but I thought it best to just follow.

We entered the kitchen and found ourselves in the middle of a large circle of impromptu truth or dare. The circle was mostly frat guys. I recognized some of them, and Peter and Charlotte were there. I saw one of the guys from the night before, Demetri, I think. He took have a step forward and raised his glass.

"I dare the two of you," he gestured between Bella and Heidi, "to kiss." Bella started giggling again as a blush began to creep up her cheeks. I suppose I should be trying to get them out of this.

"I always wondered what it would be like to kiss a girl," said Heidi. She took a strong step toward Bella, who was wearing a slightly startled, if not shell shocked expression. _She's not really going to…oh my God, she is. Best night ever._ I stood gaping as Heidi locked Bella into a kiss directly in front of me. Just when I thought Heidi was going to pull back, she drew her hands into Bella's hair and deepened the kiss. She let Bella go and turned toward me. I wasn't sure I would ever be able to form complete sentences again. I heard one of the guys behind me issue a _whoa._

Too fast for me to really register what was happening, Heidi was attacking my mouth. Attacking is the word I would use. I stumbled a little bit when her body made contact with mine.

"I didn't want you to feel left out," she said in a throaty voice as she pulled away. I was vaguely aware that the conversation in the kitchen had moved on without us. I was more aware of the other small body pressed against me. I turned my head to see Bella staring at Heidi with fierceness in her eyes that unnerved me just a little. Bella looked up at me.

"But now I feel left out," she almost whispered. It wouldn't be gentlemanly to let her feel left out. She wanted to be included. This was definitely an invitation. _A drunk invitation. Whatever, that still counts._ I heard Heidi huff behind me as I leaned in to kiss Bella. I pressed against her lips and happily found myself in the spot I had been fighting to get into for over a month: one arm wrapped around her waist the other hand pressed softly against her neck.

I started softly, not wanting her to change her mind. For the briefest moment it didn't matter that not a minute earlier we had both been kissing the same woman. Well, let's face it… I hadn't completely forgotten watching Bella do that. This was progress; she had to know how I felt about her. I nipped her bottom lip gently, hoping to take the kiss a step further.

"Bella, I want to do shots!" screeched Heidi. Bella pushed back and looked up at me a little dazed. Her friends really had terrible timing.

"Shots would be good," Bella agreed. Two rounds of shots later, I decided it would be best for us to head back to the dorm. I could have easily carried Bella back if I had too, but I couldn't just abandon Heidi. It was best to start moving while we were all still on our feet.

Two blocks from the frat house I noticed Heidi was holding one shoe and walking barefoot.

"Heidi, where is your other shoe?" I asked. Heidi looked around as if searching the ground.

"I don't know," she said. "Edward, will you give me a piggy back ride? My feet hurt," she pleaded. Bella was happily zigzagging across the sidewalk just in front of us. It would get us home faster. I secured Heidi on my back; she had a death grip around my neck. A block later, Bella suddenly turned.

"You know what? I still want to dance. You know what we need… music. _She's a brick_ _hooouusse_," she broke into song. I had one arm trying to keep a very drunk Heidi secured to my back, I reached out the other to keep hold of one of Bella's arms. I didn't want her to get far ahead, and this way I would have a chance of catching her if she fell.

"_I like big butts and I cannot lie, You other brothers can't deny…." _Apparently Bella was going to treat us to a mix of songs on the way back. It was actually really funny to watch her shake her backside to the lyrics.

"_It's tearing up my heart when I'm with you, but when we are apart I feel it too…." _N'SYNC… really? How much had she had to drink? I mean, what did a girl Bella's size weigh? She looked so tiny. Maybe I shouldn't have let her have that last shot. We were in view of the building when Bella broke into her final song.

"_Free fallin'……,"_ she belted. I loosened Heidi's grip and straightened out her outfit. She stood quietly while I adjusted her; that probably wasn't a good sign. I also noticed her solo shoe appeared to be missing. I quieted Bella and somehow got them through the lobby undetected and into the elevator. I was counting on Jasper and Emmett being back to distract Heidi.

We got off the elevator and started down my hall. My heart sank when I saw the guys' door still closed. Heidi marched down the hall, even though she had no idea where she was headed. It was okay, she couldn't get that far. I turned around to find Bella. She was leaning against the wall fighting with one of her boots.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"Uh huh. I can't get it off." She pushed her foot gently against my chest. I steadied her calf with one hand and pulled down the zipper with the other.

She stared at me intently as I held her leg. "You're pretty," she said dreamily, smiling softly at me. "And you have really great hair." She giggled, and my heart pounded a little. This was another invitation. I should try to flirt some more.

"Bella, have I mentioned how incredibly sexy these are?" I grinned at her. Her hair was wild around her face. I slipped the boot off and helped her exchange legs. I started unzipping the second boot.

"They're Alice's. She made me wear them, I can't feel my feet," She grinned back at me. I pulled the last boot off but didn't let go of her leg. Heidi was slumped against the wall further down the hall, she may have passed out. I decided to deal with that in a minute.

"She made me wear this too," Bella pushed up her chest cupping a boob in each hand. _Oh, you've got to be kidding me. _I was really trying to behave, at least a little bit_._ "Edward, do you know what a push-up bra is?" she asked. She hadn't let go of her chest.

"Uh huh." It was all I could think to say. We must have looked bizarre. I was still holding her leg while she felt herself up.

"I think it's pretty ridiculous, what's wrong with a regular bra? All it does is hold your boobs up. I mean… what is the big deal about boobs anyway? Do you think I have nice boobs?" _This_ _wasn't happening_. "I see boobs all the time, I don't really get it." She was lifting and raising her chest while she spoke. We were both staring at her chest now. "You know what's a funny word? Boobs. Boobs. Boobs. Boobs." She was repeating it with a funny lilt in her voice. I leaned in closer to her, loosening my grip on her leg and moving it to a more comfortable position near my hip. A man can only take so much, and I was almost at my limit. Another half a breath and I would have her pinned to the wall.

"Hey, Edward?" she spoke suddenly, breaking my trance.

"Yeah?" I replied hoarsely.

"I really want to play Mario Cart." And with that she moved her hands, turned and danced down the hall. I knocked my head against the wall a couple times and went to unlock the door.

***

The room was bright when I woke up. My futon was pulled flat and I was sprawled across it sideways wearing the same clothes I had on the night before. I sat up and saw the start screen to Mario Cart still running. When was I playing Mario Cart? I turned my head and was greeted with a fantastic sight. Bella was curled on her side still clutching a game controller in one hand. She looked so peaceful in her sleep.

I moved quietly as I got up. I didn't want to wake her. There was no way she wasn't going to be feeling last night when she did wake up, so it was better that she slept as long as she could. When I got up I noticed there was a crinkled blanket on the other side of me as well. _Heidi. _Thankfully there was no sign of her in the room. She must have left already. I wanted to get a little cleaned up, and then maybe Bella would be awake and we could talk. I wanted to make sure she understood I was interested in her, just her. I tossed my shirt on the floor, grabbed my toothbrush, and slipped out the door.

I got to the bathroom door and I noticed that there were two voices shouting at each other inside. That might not have been particularly odd, but they were woman's voices and this was definitely an all guys floor. It took me a second to place the first voice: Heidi. I thought about creeping back to my room. Maybe she wouldn't come back there. I suppose it would be rude to lock the door and pretend not to be there. I suddenly recognized the second voice. Alice? She must have stayed with Jasper last night. _Go Jasper_. Curiosity kept me pinned to the door. I wanted to know what they were fighting about.

"Bella may be all sweet and naive, but I know your game," shouted Alice. "She may not have much in the way of self confidence, but I know Edward and he would never be interested in a ho bag like you! Don't think you can waltz in here and walk all over Bella because you think she's weak. She's got friends, and from where I stand, you're all alone in a boys' bathroom on a Saturday morning. So maybe you should get the hell out while you still can!"

"Fine, I'm leaving. I'm so done with you people anyway. And as far as Bella is concerned, she may have the whole Bambi routine down, but no one is actually that sweet and innocent, and you're stupid if you fell for it! And I'm not leaving because I couldn't beat her! It's just not worth my time. There are other fish in the sea." I heard someone heading toward the door. I backed up quickly but there was no time to get back to my room. I was going to be stuck in the hallway. Heidi slammed through the door first and headed toward the elevator, barefoot, without looking back. _Good riddance_. Alice followed after, but then she turned in my direction. I was about to compliment her on a job well done when I caught a good view of the look on her face. _Uh oh_.

"And you," she was still shouting, "I can't even believe you!"

"Alice, I…," she cut me off.

"Jasper says you've been pining after Bella all school year. So what, she didn't put out fast enough so you bring Heidi home? I trusted you! I let her go with you last night, because I thought you were a nice guy. Does Bella know? Oh my God! Do you even know where Bella is?! Tell me you didn't leave her somewhere." She was at top volume now.

"Alice, I'm right here." Bella's voice came from behind me. "What are you shouting about?" Alice's eyes moved from Bella, standing a few feet from my open door, to me and back again. I honestly would have said something if I hadn't been so terrified.

"Oh, you didn't," she said to me in a dangerously low voice. Bella made her way down the hall to us and holding her boots in one hand.

"Bella, we're leaving." She grabbed Bella's arm and started dragging her down the hall. Bella turned and offered me a small smile. I heard Alice grumbling something about using the buddy system from now on.


	9. Chapter 9

Bpov

We walked back to our room in silence. Alice seemed upset so I didn't push it. I wondered if she had a fight with Jasper. We got to our door and found Rose leaning against it.

"Where have you girls been? I'm starving," she asked, grinning.

"We can't go to breakfast yet." Alice barged past Rose and unlocked the door. Rose gave me a look and I shrugged my shoulders. We followed her into the room and watched her start pacing.

I had felt worse before, but I wasn't doing great. My stomach was kind of upset, and my head still felt a little foggy. My mouth felt gross and cottony. Would it be rude to leave to brush my teeth? The worst part was that my throat felt like someone had run sandpaper down it. What was that about?

Rose leaned over and grabbed a chunk of my hair and sniffed.

"Bella, you stink," she said.

"Thanks Rose. That's so sweet of you." I was a little hurt. What the hell?

"No you smell like smoke… and frat house," she smiled. Well that made a little more sense. Alice stopped mid-pace and turned.

"Bella, were you smoking?" she gasped.

"No, of course not," I responded. I had never smoked before. Oh…wait.

"Maybe?" That would explain the sore throat. I vaguely remembered Edward lighting a cigarette. It had been a great excuse to stare at his mouth.

"Maybe?" Alice repeated slowly.

"Badass, Bella," smirked Rose. Something suddenly dawned on me.

"Alice, did Edward mention what happened to Heidi last night? I want to make sure she's okay." I didn't particularly like the girl, but leaving her drunk and alone at a frat party seemed cruel. Alice was just staring at me blankly.

"What?" I asked.

"Bella, what exactly do you remember from last night?" Well, that was silly. Then I started really thinking about it. I furrowed my eyebrows together. I woke up in Edward's room, but I couldn't remember getting there. What happened after the cigarette?

"Umm, you don't have to tell me. But I want to make sure you're safe and everything. Bella… did you sleep with Edward?" Alice asked tentatively.

"Naughty, Bella," Rose snickered. She winked.

"Rose you're not helping!" snapped Alice. I'm sure I turned a deep red while they both stared at me.

"No, of course not, Alice!" I protested.

"Are you sure? I mean, it sounds like you were pretty…"

"Alice, I woke up with all my clothes on, okay? It wasn't like that. Besides I've never, you know. I've barely kissed a boy," I muttered. Then I had the most fantastic image of Edward leaning in to kiss me. Edward's lips on mine. I kissed him last night. I remembered now. It was nice, perfect. It had felt like he had wanted me too. _Sigh_. Wishful thinking I suppose.

"Let me know if you want any help changing that," replied Rose.

"Behave, Rose," Alice said severely. "I think it would be better if from now on we stuck to a buddy system. None of us goes to a party without at least another one. You know, for safety purposes." Was she serious? Did I really need to be monitored? What was up with her this morning?

"Don't worry Bella, I'll let you do whatever you want," Rose reassured me.

"The buddy system works! This way, no one will do anything they regret." She gave me a significant look and put her hands on her hips.

"Alice you're coming on a little strong mother hen, tone it down," chastised Rose. Alice sighed.

"Let's go to breakfast, you should probably get hydrated," she told me, ignoring Rose. We were walking out the door and I remembered something else. Heidi. Did I kiss Heidi last night? No. I wouldn't have. I mean I was drunk and all, but… no. I thought about saying something, but you know, better not. Okay, so maybe I kissed Heidi. I would just keep my mouth shut about kissing anyone and hope that Edward did the same.

"I have an NSYNC song stuck in my head and I have no idea why," I said. I shook my head as we walked toward the elevator. Must have heard it at the party last night.

EPov

"So she's leaning against the wall, one of her legs wrapped around my waist, touching herself." I demonstrated, groping my chest with both hands. "And she's chanting. Boobs, boobs, boobs. Then she asks if I think she's got nice boobs!"

"Does she? I mean she showed them to you, right?" asked Emmett.

"Edward, you didn't. She didn't. Alice is going to kill both of you," said Jasper. I remembered Alice this morning. Jasper was probably right.

"Calm down. Nothing happened," I said.

"What! Come on. Am I the only one with a dick here? This is ridiculous!" shouted Emmett.

"Emmett, she was way too drunk, and Heidi was there," I said. No need to tell them Bella had abruptly lost interest in our hallway activities.

"Okay, so let me get this straight. You didn't make a move on Bella because you also brought home her attractive friend, who by the way, Bella made out with earlier in the night," said Emmett. When he said it like that it made me sound stupid.

"Of course not, Emmett. Bella is special to him. There will be a better time. I'm sure Edward wants to wait for the right moment," said Jasper.

"Sure Jasper, is that what Alice is holding over you? The perfect moment?" asked Emmett. Jasper glared at him. "Let's agree to this. From now on, the buddy system. We don't go to a party without each other. I can't believe I missed out on this. If we're together we can make sure no one misses out an opportunity. This way no regrets!" We agreed on the plan, Jasper somewhat grudgingly, and headed down to breakfast.

Bpov

The week passed in a blur. I saw Edward briefly on Monday. He said the week would be crazy with exams, and he probably wouldn't see me until the big Halloween party. He seemed so distracted I didn't think it would be a good time to bring up my hazy recollection of our making out.

I had nearly had a heart attack on Wednesday when the Halloween outfits were revealed. Alice and Rose decided we would go as naughty school girls. Apparently in college you picked a costume and then tacked naughty or slutty in front. The outfit included a plaid mini skirt with lacy knee high white socks. White button down shirts completed the outfit. At first glance I had been relieved by the choice. Then I saw Alice's intended alterations. The only saving grace of the entire thing was that they both agreed to let me wear a flat shoe.

Thursday afternoon Alice announced we were going underwear shopping. So there I sat, alone in a Victoria Secret dressing room waiting for Alice and Rose to come back with round two. I had been planning on wearing my standard white cotton, but apparently that wasn't festive enough.

"Try these." Alice's arm shot through the door with a handful of white lace. I dutifully went about sliding them on. The first two were a definite no. Somehow my boobs seemed to be falling out of them. I didn't think that was even possible. I couldn't figure out how to get the third one on, so that was out. The fourth one fit, and it was pretty. More risky than I would have chosen on my own, but it still covered the important parts. I didn't understand spending this much on something no one would ever see, but I didn't want to fight with Alice, so I emerged from the dressing room with my choice. Rose had chosen the bra I couldn't get on with all the clips and straps, and Alice was holding something that looked rather sheer. I guess I should be happy with what I had. We headed toward the register and Rose handed me a handful of straps and strings.

"Rose, what's this?" I asked.

"Trust me, you need them," she said. The woman at the register started ringing up my purchases. The white lace bra, and then came the tangle of different colors that Rose had handed me. She started sorting them into individual pieces and ringing them. I picked up one and turned it around in my hands. I held it up for Rose.

"Is this supposed to be underwear?" I asked.

"Bella, you have to be prepared," she answered. I tossed the tiny piece of blue fabric down on the counter. There was no way I was putting that on. I noticed Alice had added a pair of lace boy shorts to the pile. They matched my new bra. At least I understood how those worked.

Saturday night I pulled on my knee high sock and tried to figure out how exactly I had gotten myself into this. 'Whatever you want' hadn't seemed like such a dangerous thing to say at the time. Knowing what I knew now, I would have set down more specific ground rules for the costume. For example, that it must cover more than 25 percent of my body. I stood up and looked in the mirror across from me. Charlie would have a heart attack. _Renee would be so proud_. My mom was always a bit of a free spirit. She thought I took life too seriously. Well, Mom, new year, new me! I could do this.

Alice bounced across the room in her matching plaid skirt.

"Almost perfect," she said. She pulled open the top three buttons.

"That's excessive," I said. She shook her head.

"No, that's naughty school girl." She pulled the bottom of my shirt up and knotted the tails so it sat just above my belly button. "Perfect!"

She adjusted her shirt to match.

"The only bad thing is we can't change our belly button piercings yet! They don't match," she grumbled. That was just fine with me. Frankly, the idea of pulling the stud out and exchanging it made me nauseous. I don't think I would ever touch it, especially now that it wasn't hurting all the time. Rose walked in, still in the process of putting her shirt on. Even seeing her actually wearing that bra, I was confused by it.

"Listen," Rose whispered. "I hope you don't mind, but Lauren and Jessica had some sort of fight. I told her she could come to the party with us."

"That is so nice of you! Of course she can," chirped Alice. Rose shrugged.

"Whatever, she is my roommate. Here's my plan. After the party, Bella you shack up with Edward, Alice you bring Jasper back here, and that gives Emmett's room to us. Everybody's happy!" Rose beamed.

"I am not spending the night in Edward's room!" I shouted. How was that conversation going to go? _Hey Edward, I know we haven't really spoken since the night we drunkenly made out, but mind if I stay here while our friends hook up?_

"Of course you're not Bella. Don't worry about it. Besides, Jasper and I are waiting," said Alice.

"What?" responded Rose and I in unison. Alice huffed.

"We're in love, and we're waiting for the right moment to express it to each other. I crashed there last weekend, but nothing happened. Besides, I'm not going to have a sleazy hook up with the man I love after some party!" protested Alice.

"Sorry Alice. I didn't mean… I just assumed…" I stumbled.

"He's going for that?" Rose asked skeptically. "Wow. Alright, I guess Emmett I will figure something else out. We don't have a problem expressing our love after drunk, sleazy parties. I'll see you bitches at the elevator in ten."

We emerged from the building laughing fifteen minutes later. We must have been a sight. Three of us in school girl garb. Rose was wearing her hair in a high ponytail, and Alice had large plastic barrettes in her hair, the kind I wore when I was four. For my part, my hair was pulled into two low pigtails. Jessica's slutty angel costume left just as little to the imagination. The tiny white dress covered the bare essentials. It was paired with a set of wings, a halo and tall white boots with a spiky heel.

I caught sight of the boys first. They had also gone the matching costume route. They were dressed as greasers, wearing tight jeans and tight white cotton t-shirts with leather jackets thrown over. Edward's hair was styled in James Dean fashion, Jasper's slicked back, and Emmett had an Elvis twist in the front of his. _Very nice, boys._ Why was it men could wear so many clothes and still look like hot sex, and here I stood half naked, freezing, trying to look alluring?

Angela and Ben were there too. The party was being hosted by Ben's friends after all. Angela had a nurse costume on. Correction: naughty nurse. Apparently no one was immune. Ben was wearing grungy clothes with a large tire track painted across his t-shirt. His hair was mussed and his face looked like he had got in a fight. Angela had said earlier he was going to be her "patient". She had done a good job. Eric was there too. From what I could tell he was rocking an Inspector Gadget costume.

I hadn't spent much time with Edward since last weekend. Neither of us had spoken about the party. I was hoping tonight wasn't going to be awkward. At least we would be surrounded by friends. I remembered earlier when Alice had announced we would be "buddies" tonight. I didn't really plan on drinking as much tonight. I was still a little weirded out by not being able to remember most of the end of last Friday night.

I locked eyes with Edward while we walked the group. He was wearing that crooked grin of his. Ugh. I wasn't sure how I was going to make it through the night, he looked too good. Rose leaned down to my ear.

"If you want I might be able to talk Alice into trading buddies," she whispered. I blushed and looked away from Edward. Rose had clearly caught me staring.

"No thanks Rose," I said.

The walk to the party was a bit on the long side, but it was fun. We were all joking and laughing while we passed flasks back and forth. I was careful about how much I drank. Tonight's mission was to keep a controlled buzz, nothing more. Edward and I exchanged shy glances, but that was it so far.

We finally got to the party and made our way inside. The house was decorated in typical college guy fashion with glowing beer signs on the wall and mismatched furniture. Everything was draped in fake cobwebs for the occasion. At least, I hoped they were fake.

The guys hosting the party were dressed in vampire garb, and the party was filled with guys in everything from Rambo to zombie outfits. And as far as the women went, I was wrong to doubt that you couldn't make just about anything naughty or slutty. I was pretty sure we had passed a half dressed nun on the way in. There was just something wrong with that.

We pressed into the room holding the keg. Ben came over and started handing out cups. I tried to turn and clear some space for people, but instead I found myself pressed to chest to chest with Edward.

"Hi," he said gazing down at me.

"Hi," I whispered back. He took hold of my arms lightly at the elbow and ran his hands slowly down to my wrists. His light touch felt wonderful, and it was the first time we had been this close while being this sober. He took a deep breath and met my eyes.

"Listen Bella," _Oh God_. Nothing good starts like that. I could feel my eyes getting bigger. I resisted the urge to shift nervously. _Just stand still_.

"I know this really isn't the place, but I wanted you to know something…"

"Edward, come on, my friend has something for us we have to go check out," Ben said. Ben handed me a cup and started directing Edward backwards. "We'll be back ladies. Come on man, Jasper and Emmett are waiting."

Then they were gone. What was that about? What did he want to tell me? I want you to know I just want to be friends? I want to push you against the wall and kiss you? _Arg._ I needed to know.

An hour later I was jammed between the worn arm of a couch and Angela. Alice and Rose were dancing with each other and causing a near scene… not that they seemed to notice. The girls had all done another round of shots. No thanks, been there done that. By this point everyone had lapped me in drinks. I was still on pace to keep myself in control and pleasantly buzzed.

Angela and I had fallen in to a comfortable silence. We were chatting casually about classes and the dorm when she turned to me suddenly, smiled, and leaned toward me.

"You know what I love?" she asked slurring the end of the sentence slightly.

"What?" I asked. I was curious to hear what sounded like it could be a drunk confession.

"Fooling around with Ben drunk," she replied. I laughed. Not what I was expecting, but innocent enough. They had been dating forever, and I wasn't going to judge.

"Uh huh Angela. I'm sure you do," I said.

"No really, it's like you get really caught up in the moment!" She became more insistent. "And all of a sudden you find yourself on all fours begging him to—"

"Do you want another drink?" I asked quickly. I'm not sure that those actual words came out, but it was what I meant to say. Anything to stop whatever Angela was about to volunteer. She looked at me strangely for a second, and then focused her gaze over my shoulder.

"Speaking of…..Ben!" she called. I turned and noticed he had resurfaced along with the rest of the guys.

Jasper and Emmett went to join Alice and Rosalie. Ben and Edward walked our way.

"Hey Babe," said Ben as he maneuvered himself so Angela was in his lap. Now I was squished between the armrest and the two of them trying to banish mental images that kept flying into my brain.

Edward was standing next to the couch smiling down at me, he reached down to me and helped pull me out of my wedged position. While I was glad to be free of the uncomfortable spot on the couch, I now found myself once again squished against Edward. He leaned down and sighed.

"You boys having fun?" I couldn't help but tease him a little. I don't know what they had been doing, but it was clear they had reappeared less sober than when Ben left with them.

"Bella, you're so pretty," he whispered into my ear. My body stiffened. "And you always smell so great." He was leaning into my hair. _Was he smelling my hair?_ Okay, my plan to stay sober had some pitfalls. I had no idea how to react to this.

"No really Bella, you smell great. Like fruit…strawberries…What do you use in the shower?" he asked. Was he asking about my shampoo? What did that mean? He had called me pretty. Edward Cullen thought I was pretty.

"I…uh…" Again with the genius response. His eyes widened slightly.

"Not that I was thinking about you in the shower!" he stuttered. Wait, _was_ he thinking about me in the shower? I blushed and looked away for a second. Long enough to catch sight of Alice making out with Jasper in the middle of the dance floor. Buddy system!

"Excuse me Edward," I said without thinking. I wove my way over to our dancing friends. "Oh Alice?"

She broke away from Jasper and smiled at me.

"I love you Bella!" she shouted as she launched herself at me. She was hugging me wildly. "You're my favorite roommate ever! C'mon Rose, drinks!" she shouted over her shoulder. We made a naughty school girl parade over to the keg. That's when I remembered that I left Edward standing in the middle of the living room. Whatever, I was still confused by our conversation. Did this mean he liked me, or just that he wanted to make out with me when he got drunk?

When we got back into the living room I noticed Emmett had the boys in a huddle. He was talking animatedly, like he was giving them a pep talk or something. I had a sneaking suspicion that anything Emmett was encouraging would be bad news. I was following the girls in their direction when someone caught my arm. I turned around. _Jessica! _I had completely forgotten we brought Jessica.

"Oh my God Bella, I'm so glad I found you! Don't leave me alone again. Eric just spent the last hour describing his favorite Inspector Gadget episodes in detail. I mean, I liked that show when I was little too, but come on." Jessica was looking over her shoulder, probably nervously scanning the room for Eric, while she held tightly onto my arm. I couldn't blame her really. I had experience with Eric's storytelling, and I felt sorry for Jessica, although part of me was happy he found a new infatuation.

"Just stick with us." I started walking with Jessica still attached to my arm in the direction I had seen the girls disappear. We were almost up to the group when Emmett shoved Edward in my direction. He reached out and started twirling one of my ponytails. I looked up at him shyly.

"Bella, you're like a nucleus," he said. _I'm sorry what?_ "Yeah, you're like a nucleus and I'm a proton." I was totally lost. I know he was drunk, but I wasn't getting the chemistry talk. I met his expectant look blankly.

"Okay, okay. It's like you're here," he lifted up a finger, "and I'm spinning like this," he let go of my pigtail so he could use his other hand to demonstrate. "Always circling, never touching. Do you know what I mean?"

"Edward, I have _no idea_ what you mean," I replied. Jessica was watching from next to me with a glazed look in her eye.

"Oh," he said simply. Emmett leaned back and whispered something in Edward's ear. Then he winked at me and walked away.

"Oh, oh, okay….you're like a comet…no a meteor." _We've moved on to_ _astronomy, apparently._ "No, no, you're like the night sky…wait, I'm the night sky and you're the meteor." He paused and looked up, concentrating like he was trying to solve a difficult math equation. He smiled triumphantly. "Yes, my life was like the night sky and you're the meteor."

"That's beautiful," whispered Jessica. She was still standing next to me, gripping my arm tightly. What was I missing here?

"Edward, what does that mean?" I asked. There probably wasn't a point, he was just drunk. His face fell slightly. Just then I heard someone calling my name.

"Bella!" I turned to see Alice dancing on top of a table. She waved furiously at me. I watched her for a second and wondered how she had even gotten up on the table. Emmett was standing nearby though, and I suspected he had something to do with it. We were going to have to have a serious heart-to-heart if he kept this up.

"Hey, girl, hey!" Alice called from the table. The group of men surrounding the table was growing, probably because from that angle I'm pretty sure you could see straight up her skirt. _Well, at least her new panties won't go to waste!_

"Edward, stay. I have to go get Alice." He nodded drunkenly. I left Jessica standing next to him and made my way over to Alice.

"Alice, come here!" She laughed and kept dancing.

"Bella, I love you! And I love dancing, and tables, and Rose, and Jasper….." she suddenly sat down on the table. "I want to go find Jasper," she declared.

"Sure hon, let me help you down." Between the two of us we got her off the table without injury. A couple of the nearby guys booed, but the death glares I was shooting sent most of them running.

We started back toward where I had abandoned Edward and Jessica. I decided Jasper could be in charge of Alice for a while. Something hit me from the side and I went toppling sideways into the wall. After a second of panic I realized the person I was now holding onto was Angela.

"Ang?" She started laughing uncontrollably.

"Sorry, Bella. Still getting use to my drunk feet! Though I think maybe I tripped on something," she said. Then turned her head to scour the ground for whatever offending object had sent her flying.

"No problem, just be careful, okay?" She grinned at me.

"Always!" she replied. Hmmmm. I was clearly the most sober one in the bunch. Maybe I should keep it that way, just to be sure everyone got home in one piece. When did I become such an Alice?

I was chuckling to myself when I saw some random guy cozy up to Rose on the dance floor. _Crap_. She didn't seem to be noticing and that guy was almost as big as Emmett. _Where was Emmett when you need him? _I did a quick scan of the room looking for the guys. They would be better equipped to deal with this dude.

I saw Edward walking into the room. He probably wasn't the best choice to ask for help, considering the way he had been acting tonight. Before I could make up my mind, his eyes found mine and he headed towards me. Angela was weaving off in the direction she thought Ben was.

I had intended to send him over to Rose, but the first words out of his mouth distracted me from my mission entirely.

"I want to talk about last weekend." He grinned at me. Here we go. Maybe this is what he was going to say earlier? I was nervous, but he seemed relaxed.

"You look so peaceful when you sleep Bella, I wish I could have stayed up all night to watch you," he sighed. I snorted.

"You're a little late on the whole creepy watching you sleep thing. Eric's already got that covered," I said remembering the surprise awakening from my nap.

"What?" For a second his expression was confused, and then his expression changed. He had the weirdest look on his face. Then it hit me. Oh God, that had sounded bad. He thought I meant….ewwww.

"No, no! I was napping and Eric stopped by, and you know…I woke up and he was there. It was kind of weird, but nothing happened!" I blurted out.

"Oh," was all he said. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "I'll be right back." Then he was gone, leaving me….confused.

_Okay, Bella. Let's look at the facts__. _He told me I was pretty earlier. And I suppose the watching me sleep thing could be interpreted as positive. This was getting ridiculous. If we all lived through tonight I was scheduling a sober conversation with Edward. I didn't care how awkward it was going to be.

"Bella!" I turned. Oh for the love of…..Alice was back on the table. Luckily I hadn't moved that far away and she was easy enough to lure back down with the promise of a hug—you know from her bestest roommate ever who she totally loved! Once she was safely back on the ground I went about dutifully straightening her naughty school girl top. What was a buddy for?

"Bella, I've been thinking," she said. I smiled.

"What about Alice?" I asked.

"Emmett thinks I'm being too serious with this whole waiting thing…," I looked up at her confused for a second. "I mean maybe he's right, I love Jasper, and frankly I'm horny!" she huffed. Oh. _Oh_!

"Alice, this is not a decision you should make drunk." I gave her my best serious voice.

"But Bella I've really thought this through!" She started nodding her head enthusiastically.

"Alice I'm sorry to have to do this to you, but I'm invoking the buddy system. We are hanging out with each other for the rest of the night, and the first thing we're going to do is find Emmett," I told her.

"Oh good idea, when Emmett explains it, it makes a lot more sense," Alice cooed. I'm sure it did. I grabbed Alice's arm and towed her into the kitchen where I could hear Emmett's booming laugh.

We squeezed into an alley kitchen and headed toward Emmett and Jasper. It looked like Edward had joined them and Jessica was hovering nearby.

My plan was to try and curb Emmett's bad influence, and let him know I was on to him. Also to threaten Jasper as much as was necessary. There would be no taking advantage of Alice's weakness on my watch. After all, it's what Alice would do for me. Wouldn't she would want me to do it for her? Emmett and Jasper, however, were in the middle of a heated discussion. From what I could tell someone had left a bottle of rum on top of a gas stove, positioned unfortunately directly above a pilot light. The rum bottle was now hot to the touch.

"No, I'm telling you! Heat it up and the alcohol, like, evaporates," claimed Jasper.

"That doesn't make any sense, the booze is still good," countered Emmett.

"Edward, back me up on this. You can't heat alcohol right? It's chemistry." Jasper turned to Edward.

"Hmmm, yeah, sure Jasper," he said distractedly.

"See!" Jasper grinned triumphantly. Emmett smiled slowly.

"Tell you what Jazz, if the alcohol is gone than a shot glass of hot rum wouldn't light on fire right?" Jasper nodded slowly, searching for the catch no doubt. "Okay, so I'm going to pour a shot of hot rum and try to light it. If we end up with a flaming shot, you do a shot of hot rum. If there are no flames, I'll do a shot." Emmett paused. This seemed like a very bad idea. Burning alcohol couldn't be safe.

"If it doesn't light you do two shots," countered Jasper.

"Deal." Emmett reached for the bottle and poured out two shots in waiting glasses. I suppose I should be relieved that no one was drinking anything while it was on fire. Someone tossed a lighter at Emmett. He reached over to the first shot and flicked open the lighter. The kitchen was quite for half a heartbeat, and then the shot lit, and everyone but Jasper cheered. He was busy glowering at Edward, who shrugged innocently at him.

"I got to tell you Jasper, I wasn't really listening," Edward laughed quietly. Jasper grumbled under his breath for a minute and reached over the second shot and threw it back. Emmett laughed.

"How was that man?" he asked.

"Hot," replied Jasper. "I wouldn't recommend it." Emmett turned in our direction.

"Bella, just the girl I've been looking for," boomed Emmett.

"Really what a coincidence," I answered. He smiled knowingly at me. _Your dimples_ _aren't getting you out of this one buddy boy._

"Edward has something he wants to tell you," he winked at me. Edward's eyes lit up and he walked over to us. While Drunk Edward was really sweet and still totally gorgeous, he was incredibly confusing. I wasn't sure I was ready for whatever it was he had to tell me. Just then I remembered why I had started looking for them in the first place. _Oh_ _my God_.

"Emmett, Rose was in danger of getting felt up on the dance floor earlier, maybe you should make sure she's doing okay," I said.

"What?" Emmett's voice dropped two levels, and I was momentarily concerned. "I'm on it," he turned to leave and grabbed Edward's arm on the way past. "Remember what I said. Sound effects are very key."

We had all formed a small circle in the kitchen with Edward facing directly across from me.

"Okay, okay, okay I've got it figured out!" he exclaimed. "I'm like a bear…"

"No, we decided Emmett was the bear," interjected Jasper.

"Oh right. I'm like a lion," he smiled.

"Yep, that's right," said Jasper.

"Right, right. I'm like a lion and you," he pointed at me dramatically. "are like a…"

"Sound," cough "effects," cough. Jasper smiled and coughed once more for appearances. Uh huh.

"Oh right, I'm like a lion," he paused. "Rawrrrrr." Jasper was visibly biting down on both cheeks. Alice started giggling uncontrollably. I was trying desperately to choke back my own laughter, the look of absolute concentration on his face was beyond priceless.

"And you," he said reaching out and gently brushing my cheek. "are like a lamb." There was a softness in his eyes and I could still feel where he had brushed my cheek. But here we were once again at some random party one of us silly drunk surrounded by giggling friends.

"That doesn't sound like a very healthy relationship for me Edward," I responded, trying to keep my voice light. He knit his eyebrows together.

"Huh, you're right. I thought I had it figured out that time….." he said. _What was he_ _trying to figure out exactly? _Just then Ben came around the corner with Angela and Eric following nervously behind him. Did Eric have a black eye? I hadn't noticed that before….odd.

"We're leaving now, out the back, come on," Ben's voice was low and serious.

"What's going on?" Jasper asked.

"A friend called from a couple blocks down, cops are headed this way. They'll be looking to hand out tickets on account of it being Halloween. We need to go now," he said. While he was talking our small group had followed him out of the kitchen into a back hallway. He pushed open the back door and we all made our way out.

"Wait!" I cried. Everyone turned to look at me. "What about Em and Rose?" Ben laughed.

"They were making out in the living room, left the party like ten minutes ago," he said. I exhaled. Suddenly the front of the house was washed in flashing red and blue lights.

"Shit!" shouted Ben. "Run!"


	10. Chapter 10

Bpov

We were all crammed together at a long table at one of the more popular campus pizza places. I would have felt silly, but we were surrounded by equally as inebriated costumed coeds looking to end their night with a slice of greasy pizza.

We made a relatively clean get away from the party, and now I could add "successfully eluded the police" to my growing resume of college experiences. Ben was familiar with the neighborhood and navigated us through the maze of backyards, skillfully avoiding fences and dogs. The only injury was a long scrape on the back of Jessica's leg where she had run into a particularly nasty hedge. She had just excused herself to assess the damage in the bathroom.

I was quickly learning that my friends had interesting personality quirks when they overindulged. Jasper and Alice might have been the most entertaining pair. Alice, who was normally mothering and loving, became overly so. She had told everyone in the group how much she loved them at least twice on the way to the pizza place, hugging some of us to drive the point home.

Jasper, on the other hand, turned into a military man, special ops style. It was also possible that he was trying to channel James Bond, I wasn't sure yet. He insisted on pushing us into shadows and ducking behind trees when cars drove past even after we had cleared the cops at the party…just in case we were being tailed. Before we went into the restaurant he had insisted on scoping it out for "potential trouble."

At least I no longer had to deal with Emmett's not-so-helpful encouragement. Some texts exchanged after we finished running confirmed that he and Rose were also in the clear and on their way back to the dorm.

The guys were all sitting together at the other end of the table playing some game that involved sugar packets. I'm not sure that there were actually rules or a point to whatever they were doing but they all seemed rather entertained and totally engrossed in it. Well, with the exception of Eric, who was sitting slightly behind Ben and eyeing Edward warily. The bruise under his eye was darkening, and I couldn't help but wonder if Edward had something to do with it. He had seemed really agitated about the whole watching me sleep thing, but maybe I was making more of that than there was.

I was sitting on the opposite end of the table, wedged in between Alice and Angela. The two of them were talking animatedly about the sculptural aspects of the human body. To be honest I wasn't really following the conversation. When they started talking about chests and shoulders I immediately started to daydream about _Edward's_ chest and shoulders. I wasn't one for girly fantasies, but for some reason I got lost in this one.

_Edward, dripping with sweat, stripping off his t-shirt and walking towards me, wearing only a pair of tight running shorts. He stalks in my direction, his beautiful green eyes narrowed in a predatory way_. _He reaches out to me, and_—

"Don't you agree Bella?" Angela asked, interrupting my daydream at the worst possible moment.

"Huh? Sure," I replied. Alice laughed lightly.

"Angela was just saying how she thought that the penis was the most beautiful part of the male form," Alice said smiling wickedly. How had I missed that? I started to feel the blush creeping up. Figures they would start talking about penises while I zoned out into my first ever sexual fantasy.

"Seriously, they're beautiful," Angela said dreamily. "I remember the first time I saw Ben's—"

"You know Jessica has been gone for awhile. I'm gonna check on her," I said excusing myself from the table. Just because I was officially thinking dirty thoughts didn't mean I was ready for that particular conversation. Angela just nodded and continued her story. Alice was listening intently and nodding along. I wondered if Ben knew about Angela's tendency to over-share when she drank. Maybe he did, and he just didn't care. She was highly complimentary, after all.

I opened the bathroom door and heard Jessica sniffling. I found her in front of the mirror dabbing the back of her leg with a wet paper towel. Maybe she was hurt worse than we thought.

"Hey Jess you okay?" I asked. It was an innocent enough question. But when she looked up at me tears spilled over and she drew in a shaky sob.

"NO!" she cried.

"What's wrong? Are you really hurt? Do you need stitches?" I looked closer at her exposed leg. She wasn't bleeding. I mean, it really just looked like a scratch.

"Why don't you like me?" she sobbed. Ummm, what?

"I... I like you Jessica," I responded. She sobbed again and fell into me, grabbing my shirt.

'No, no one likes me! You guys don't ever ask me to hang out with you." Her body shook as she cried into my shirt. I wrapped my arms around her tentatively and patted her on the back. I had never been very good with crying people.

"That's not it, of course we like you. Aren't you hanging out with Lauren?" I was grasping at straws. She was all out bawling now.

"Lauren's a bitch!" she wailed. I looked back at the door willing Alice to come through it , or anyone who could help me.

"Umm, okay hon. I know you two had a fight. Uh…It's okay though everyone really likes you. Trust me," I said tentatively. I was on rocky footing here. What do you say to a drunk, hysterical girl? She stood back up and looked at me. She had mascara running down her face. I managed a covert glance down, the side of my shirt she'd been crying on was covered in black splotches. Someone was going to notice that.

"Do you know," hiccup, "I'm eighteen, Eighteen!" She stumbled slightly and grabbed onto the counter. "And I have never had a boyfriend…NEVER!" she bawled.

"Jessica, I've never had a boyfriend. We could probably start a club, it's not that bad," I said. In truth I had only been kissed by one boy, well two if we were counting Edward. What was I thinking? I was definitely counting Edward. _Not helping, focus on Jessica._

"It's not the same thing!" she wailed. I wasn't sure how it could be different.

"No really Jessica, I've been on like one date ever. I'm sure you're going to find a great guy," I assured her. She swallowed loudly trying to bring her breathing under control. Tears and snot mingled as they ran down her face. She was really a mess. I turned and started pulling out paper towels for her.

"Please, Bella, I'm not like you. I heard what Edward said to you!" She drew in another chocked sob. "He called you his nucleus!" The tears started flowing again as her shoulders shook. I stopped in mid-turn with fistful of paper towels.

"Wait, did you understand where he was going with that?" I asked. Maybe it was some kind of drunk speak, you had to be impaired to understand it. Unfortunately, my question seemed to only make the situation worse. She covered her face and started blubbering incoherently.

I couldn't really make out what she was saying. I caught an "Edward," and she went on about something or another being soooo obvious for awhile. This was a lost cause. It had been at least ten minutes and our absence wouldn't go unmissed forever. I needed to figure out a way to stop Jessica's crying and lure her back out of the bathroom.

"Listen Jessica," I said pulling her hands away from her face and starting to dab her face with paper towels, "I promise we'll get together and do something, the two of us. Because we're friends, right?" She nodded slowly. It seemed like her tears had stopped.

"You know what would be good now? Pizza. I think we should go get some pizza. Huh?" I asked. I didn't want to leave her too much of an opening just in case she decided she would rather spend the rest of the night in the bathroom. I cleaned her up the best I could, but her face was still red and splotchy from crying, there was no helping that.

"Okay, if we're _really_ friends," she eyed me suspiciously. "Let's go get pizza."

"Great!" I helped lead her out of the bathroom and back to our table.

Three large pizzas and a cold walk home later we were standing in front of the dorm. I was a little relieved the night was over. I started pulling Alice toward the door, when Jasper swooped in front of us.

"We should all stick together," he whispered. Despite the pizzas and time most of the group was still pretty trashed. "Come on," he signaled for us to follow him. Alice gleefully skipped after him, now towing me behind her. We got inside the dorm and I noticed a very bored student manning the front desk. He eyed us up and turned back to his magazine.

Jasper made his way toward the guys' side of the dorm pressed tightly against the wall, and the rest of the group followed suit. I'm not sure if they thought it was necessary for stealth purposes or just thought it was funny. Either way, I found myself scooting against a wall in a line of eight people. Alice was still holding my hand and tugging me forward, and then a couple things happened at once: Jasper reached the door to the tower and stopped the movement of the group to unlock it; Edward leaned down over my opposite shoulder and started humming the Mission Impossible theme song; and I turned my head to make sure the group was still intact. The chain of events brought Edward's face centimeters from mine. Our noses brushed, our lips practically touching. For a second neither of us moved.

"Come on! We got to get moving," Jasper whispered loudly as he pushed the door open. Alice yanked my hand and the moment was gone. I watched him while I was dragged into the next hallway. His eyes almost looked darker and the side of his mouth was slowly creeping up. He strode confidently toward the door and followed me through it. Jasper was holding the elevator open and we all piled in. I concentrated on calm regular breaths. I just had to get the guys into their rooms, and then I could retreat to my room and pray for dirty dreams about Edward. _Breathe in and out_.

_Ding. _The elevator doors opened and we all stumbled out onto the guys' floor. Alice was still holding my hand and started skipping down the hall.

"Bella," she stopped and turned to me, "I really do love you!" I smiled she really was a sweet little drunk.

"You know what?" I heard Edward's voice behind me. "I luh-." _Huff._ The sound of the air being knocked out of Edward was quickly followed by a large thump. Alice and I spun around to see Jasper and Edward wrestling on the floor behind us. We looked at each other and shrugged. Emmett emerged a couple doors down with just his jeans on.

"You guys finally back?" he asked as he made his way to us. He reached Jasper and Edward and easily lifted Jasper off Edward. "Hey Jazz, pick on someone your own size," he said laughing. Jasper shook himself loose.

"Trust me he'll thank me in the morning," Jasper replied. Edward stood up, brushing himself off and grumbling about how a thank you was unlikely.

By the time I collapsed onto my bed thirty minutes later everyone was safely tucked into a bed, alone or otherwise. Alice passed out the second she got into her bed, one leg dangling off the side of her loft. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. My brain hurt. Tonight had been…interesting. I just wanted to sleep a couple hours before I thought about it. Who knew having friends was so complicated?

***

Epov

This first thing I was aware of was how horrifically bright it was. I rolled over to shield my eyes. _Ohhh_. Bad idea. The movement was too sudden and I was faced with the very real possibility of hurling. I held very still and tried to take deep, even breaths. I was hot and uncomfortable. Once I got my stomach somewhat under control I slowly opened my eyes. I was in my room, up in my loft. How had I gotten up here? I shifted out from under the blanket that was thrown over me very slowly, trying not to move my head. I was still in my jeans from last night.

I stretched my legs slowly. Everything seemed sore. I felt like I had run a marathon the day before without stretching. My stomach did another flip and I let out a low groan.

"You still alive up there?" Jasper's voice came from below me. I jumped at the unexpected sound and regretted it immediately. The quiet throb that was growing in my head hit the back of my eyes. I squeezed my eyes closed and slowly sunk into my mattress.

"No. Everything hurts," I grumbled. "What are you doing here?" I asked, probably a little too harshly. I heard a low laugh.

"Well Emmett was, ummm, _using_ our room. I didn't think you would care. You didn't care about much by the end of the night," Jasper answered. I groaned again and rolled to my back. Okay my stomach was in no condition to keep moving. I was going to have to choose a spot and wait to die. Estimated time of death: ten minutes, tops.

I ran through the night in my head. It started out well enough. Bella had looked incredibly hot. I was determined to have a successful night with her. I wanted to tell her that I was interested. I was pretty sure it was mutual. And then Ben had insisted his buddy had something we couldn't miss out on.

So I found myself jammed in a smoky room with Emmett and Jasper, drinking out of a bottle of who-knows-what. Yeah, things went downhill from there. I jumped again at the sound of loud knocking at my door. It echoed in my head. Thankfully Jasper was up and had the door opened by the third knock. I'm pretty sure my head would have split open at the fourth.

"Hey boys!" Emmett called.

"Seriously, can we please use our inside voices?" I whimpered. The rhythmic pounding in my head was getting steadily worse.

"You guys have got to see this!" Emmett slid into my desk chair and started up the computer. Even the sound of the clicking keys was getting to me.

"Can't we do it later? I just want to die for a while," I muttered. My stomach lurched again.

"No way man, you're gonna want to see this. This is why we have the buddy system. I can't believe I missed it, I'm just glad a friend from class was in the kitchen with a camera phone!" he answered.

"You got that on tape!" Jasper shouted.

"I'm serious! Not so loud! How are you guys not hung over?" I grumbled. Then I processed their words. "Wait, what? What did you get on tape?" From this angle it looked like Emmett was pulling up a video on his Facebook page. I'm sure this could wait. They obviously had no idea what kind of pain I was in. Jasper looked up at me.

"No man, you should probably see this," he said seriously. I exhaled slowly. I could do this. I swung myself of the bed, moving as slowly and carefully as I could. Dropping to my feet, I stood very still for a moment. My head was refusing to reorient itself to an upright position. I squeezed my eyes shut and took a few deep breaths. I could feel a cold sweat breaking out; I felt clammy and gross. Deep breath. I opened my eyes slowly and walked over to the desk.

"This better be good," I muttered.

"Trust me, it'll be worth the trip down," said Emmett. He clicked play and a grainy bouncing video started. It looked like the kitchen from the party last night. It was our group; the girls were easy to pick out. I was standing in the middle of the group facing Bella. What the hell was I yammering on to her about? _Oh_ _my God._

Emmett was barely containing his laughter and Jasper was silently shaking next to me. The video froze on Bella's confused expression and they both broke out laughing. I stood very still for a moment.

"You're a lion. Oh, that was the best one!" cried Emmett.

"Did I rawr at her?" I asked slowly. Jasper started laughing harder while shaking his head yes. "What am I doing with my hands?" Jasper slowed his laughing for a second.

"Those would be the scary claws," said Jasper.

"I can't believe you actually did the scary claws too!" Emmett exclaimed, imitating the movement and taking a swipe in the air. I don't know that mortified even began to cover it. Maybe she wouldn't remember, maybe no one would remember.

"Emmett you have to take this down right away!" I yelled. Mistake. My head and stomach seized simultaneously.

"Oh, no way. This is too good." He shook his head.

"On the off chance Bella doesn't remember this either, I don't need anyone else seeing it and reminding her." Something else slowly dawned on me. "Oh my God, Emmett! Government programs don't accept people who do shit like this!" How had I been so stupid? I managed to single-handedly ruin my love life and career all in one night. Emmett let out a deep sigh. I glared at him. Maybe not so single-handedly.

"Well I guess we can't have our future astronaut benched. But don't worry about Bella. She remembers everything," he giggled. A grown football player sized man was giggling. What had he said earlier?

"Emmett what do you mean 'the best one'?" I asked. My eyes bugged slightly as a sudden memory flashed through my head. "Did I call Bella a nucleus last night?"

"Yeah, but only after you told her she smelled good and rambled on about her in the shower," answered Jasper.

"Oh, but before you punched Eric for watching her sleep… which was after you told her you wanted to watch her sleep," threw in Emmett. I groaned and sank to the floor. There was no fixing this. This was a mess. I caught sight of the back of my arms. They were both scraped up.

"What happened to my arms?" I asked. I tried to remember falling, but my head was currently too full of thoughts of Bella and clips of our conversations from the night before.

"I had to tackle you in the hallway," answered Jasper matter-of-factly.

"Why?" I asked simply.

"You were about to tell Bella you loved her. I didn't think that was the best idea," he said. I tried to focus on the memory but the end of the night was still fuzzy.

"I'm sure I wasn't, I'm not that stupid," I grumbled. Emmett snorted. I glared at the back of his head. At least it looked like he was pulling the video down.

"On the bright side, everyone, with the possible exception of Bella, knows you are mad crazy head over heels for her," Emmett chuckled. I groaned again.

"How could she not know?" Hadn't I made ridiculous metaphors for my feelings all night? She had to have picked up on something.

"Yeah, sometimes that girl is amazingly unperceptive," said Emmett. I growled at him. He shrugged his shoulders. "Just saying."

They both finally left me to wallow. I slowly moved around the room, blocking out every source of light before curling up on my futon and praying for a deep dreamless sleep. Instead I lay awake for hours and stared at the door, thinking about Bella and the mess I made.

Around four I made up my mind to face it straight on. I would pick myself up, go over there, and apologize for being…a crazy drunk. I spent 45 minutes showering, dressing and trying to tame my hair. I was stalling.

I pulled open my door and found a stick figure drawing of a lion on my dry erase board. This was going to be no good. Maybe I could get someone else really trashed next weekend and convince them to do something stupider. The idea had promise, but further brainstorming would have to wait. I was a man on a mission.

By the time I got to Bella's door I was losing my confidence. I knocked lightly. The knob started turning. What if it was Alice? Do I ask for Bella? What if Bella was mad at me? _Shit. _ The door swung open and Bella stood on the other side. Her hair was loose and she was wearing a pair of light gray yoga pants and a baggy old T-shirt. I wished we could skip this part. Go straight to the comfortable part. I wanted to sweep her up and hold her against me. We could waste a Saturday morning lying in bed. This girl was seriously getting to me, I never lounged. She shifted slightly. Oh right, I should say something.

"Hi," I squeaked. She smiled.

"Hi. How you feeling?" she asked. I looked down sheepishly. At least it was an opening.

"Listen about that. I…um…well you know. I was…" I should have prepared something. What was I going to say? I was trashed, but I do really like you? I took a deep breath. I was staring at Bella's bare feet trying to come up with something wonderful and eloquent to say. Something the exact opposite of last night.

"Edward? Would you… wouldyouliketogooutsometime?" she blurted out. I snapped my head up. She was clutching the door knob and looking at me hesitantly.

"What?" Her face fell and her eyes widened in terror.

"Never mind! Forget I said that!" She looked panicked.

"No, no! I just… I thought you would be mad at me," I stuttered, smiling meekly at her. Worry was still etched in her eyes. She opened and closed her mouth a couple times. I was waiting for her to say something and then it occurred to me. Had Bella just asked _me_ out? And I had left her hanging. _Way to go, Romeo._

I took a deep breath and regrouped. This isn't what I had planned but it was way better than apologizing for drunkenly making wild life noises at her.

"Bella, will you let me take you out? On a date. Just the two of us. Somewhere without a keg," I smiled hopefully at her. There. There would be no confusion about what I meant. She laughed lightly and turned pink.

"I would like that," she whispered. I grinned broadly back at her.

"Good, we can talk about it Monday? I'll see you at lunch right?" I was suddenly concerned she wouldn't want to be seen with me after the public scene I caused.

"Of course, Edward. I'll see you then," she said.

"Okay good. I'll see you then." I said starting to walk backwards down the hall. Quick exit so she didn't think better of this. I tripped slightly over my feet. She giggled softly.

"I thought I was the clumsy one," she called. I watched her close the door slowly. Then I spun around and booked it back to the elevator. I had to come up with the perfect date plan by Monday.


	11. Chapter 11

Bpov

I picked at the food on my tray nervously. I was still a little bit in shock about what had happened the day before.

Rose had come skipping into the room still wearing her Halloween get up. Alice was sprawled on the couch with her arm over her eyes and I was doing my best to not make too much noise while I puttered on my computer.

"Wakey, wakey!" Rose cooed smacking Alice's leg on the way past. "You have got to see this." She scooted onto my office chair with me so we were both hanging half on half off. Alice was glaring in her direction, but Rose didn't seem to notice. She typed happily on my keyboard, pulling Emmett's Facebook page up. Alice was standing behind the chair in a second when she heard the video clip start.

I winced for Edward. I mean its one thing to do something embarrassing when you were drunk, but its another to have it broadcast worldwide on the Internet. I thanked whatever God had kept my own previous bad behavior under wraps.

"Oh he soooo likes you," sang Alice. I shook my head.

"Don't be silly Alice. He was drunk and referring to me as a barnyard animal." That was all, right?

"No Bella, she's right. He's got it bad. I don't know that I have ever seen a drunk show quite like this one. And a lamb doesn't really count as a barnyard animal…they're cute," Rose added. I paused. He had called me pretty…and relatively early in the night, too. No, it was too much to hope.

"Whatever, I don't…I don't know," was all I could manage to stutter.

"I think you need to take the bull by the horns," said Rose. "Or the lion by the tail in this case." She snickered, and I rolled my eyes. "Just ask him out."

"What?!" shrieked Alice. "That isn't romantic at all! He'll ask her himself…eventually."

"Right," Rose drawled, raising a skeptical eyebrow at Alice. "Listen Bella, if you're looking for a date before winter break, just ask him. Emmett _may_ have mentioned that Edward was interested, so really this isn't even a risk." Rose looked at me pointedly while Alice pouted. I started getting warm.

"I'll think about it," I hedged.

"Fine," Rose shrugged. Alice sighed and returned to her spot on the couch, leaving me to obsess over Rose's words. Had Edward really said something to Emmett, or was Rose just trying to convince me to do something she knew I normally wouldn't have the balls to do?

When Edward showed up at my door later that day stammering about the night before, I wasn't even sure what happened. I just blurted out an invitation. And then he had this surprised/horrified look on his face. And I couldn't believe that I had actually asked him, and that he was going to say no! Then out of nowhere he had agreed and had mercifully taken charge. I hadn't actually had a plan when I asked him if he wanted to go out. I didn't even realize what I was doing at the time. Still, here I sat, waiting for him to show up for our normal, routine lunch and tell me the details of our definitely not routine _date_!

"Hi Bella." I looked up and locked eyes with Edward. His hair was tousled, as usual. I wondered if this date went well if I would get a chance to run my hands through it, I had been dying to do that. _It wasn't the only thing I was dying to get my hands on_. I smiled at myself. When had I become such a perv?

"What?" he asked. _Not sharing that_.

"Nothing," I mumbled as he sat down. He cocked an eyebrow at me, but thankfully didn't push it. We exchanged random pleasantries about our days. I noticed I was awkwardly avoiding eye contact. The longer the small talk went on the more nervous I got. Finally Edward cleared his throat.

"I was wondering…if you would like…if I could take you out Friday night?" he looked up at me hopefully. "If you don't already have plans," he added.

"No, no plans," I said in a rushed breath. I paused, blushing. "I mean, Friday night would be great." He gave me a crooked grin. It seemed my response was enough to win back any of his slipping confidence.

"Great! There is this classic movie theater not far away I was thinking we could go to. It's just down the block from a really good ice cream place. I'll be at your room around seven," he said smiling. I smiled back automatically.

"That sounds perfect," I replied. Movie and ice cream I could do. I was worried about having to eat a full meal in front of Edward. I mean cafeteria lunches were one thing. But in a quiet restaurant with the pressure of a first date there was no way I wouldn't end up with half a plate of something on my lap.

***

"Come on, Bella, we're going to be late!" shrieked Alice from three feet in front of me. That was exactly my plan. This was the art class I had been dreading since the semester started. In fact when I read it on the syllabus I almost dropped the class. Alice wouldn't hear of it of course. It was nude model day.

The details we had been given were sketchy at best. All I really knew was some naked person was going to be hanging out in front of class for two hours and I was expected to draw them. It wasn't a large class so the best I could hope for was the back row, which was really only the second row. Maybe if I got a spot in a corner I could at least avoid any possible eye contact with said naked person. Maybe if we dawdled there would only be 'bad' seats left. So I had taken my time getting ready that morning and dragged my feet all the way to class. Alice, on the other hand, was really excited about class.

"I wonder what kind of model it will be," she said clapping her hands together. "I mean old, young, skinny, not so skinny. The human body offers so many different details to draw. This is going to be so great." She turned to me. "Do you think it will be a man or a woman?"

I froze. It had never even occurred to me it might be a man. I don't know why. In the old paintings wasn't it always woman sprawled on chaise lounges? I had been horrified at the idea of a strange naked lady standing in front of me, but the idea of some random naked dude sent me to new levels of hysteria.

I stood in the hall and my eyes went out of focus for a second. I couldn't do this. What if it was a man? I'm pretty sure I didn't want my first full view of a man to be with a group of 35 budding art students, and what if he was some out of shape old guy? That sort of thing was bound to scar a girl. I always thought I would be buried under covers in a very dark room the first time I was with a naked man… you know, kind of let myself work my way up to it. Okay, maybe not the picture of hotness, but I expected I would be naked too, and that would require the dark room and blankets.

"I'm not feeling well. I don't think I can make it to class," I said spinning around. Alice caught my arm.

"You have to go to class, otherwise you'll get an incomplete! You can be sick after class." She pulled my arm roughly. For being so small she was a power house. I stumbled forward. We were almost at the door now, and I felt the sense of impending doom grow deep in my stomach. She was right; we were three quarters of the way through the semester and I really couldn't afford to lose this class now. It was too late. I would hide in the corner and pray for a female model. We made it through the door and I started angling for the corner. Miracle of miracles, there was still a spot open there.

"Oh thank goodness! I was sure all the good spots would be taken!" Alice exclaimed. She was still holding onto my arm tightly and promptly directed us in the opposite direction I had in mind. I turned my head slightly, feeling another surge of panic. I relaxed a little when I saw the model and teacher weren't in the room yet, but tensed immediately when I saw the two easels Alice was headed toward. They were front and center. She swung me onto one of the stools and happily started setting up her materials.

The class was full of its regular murmurs while I set up my drawing pad and pulled out my charcoal pencils and other equipment. I had adopted a kind of rough sketching style in an attempt to compensate for my complete lack of skill. Our teacher was almost unbelievably buying it as my "style," so that would spare me some of the detailing for this project. I heard the door swing shut behind and the room got quiet. I took a deep breath and snuck a look from underneath my lashes as the instructor made his way to the front of the room.

"Eyes up front," called the professor. "I would like to introduce our model for the day. This is Jacob," he said pointing to the large man standing next to him. _Holy_ _shit…_There was a low whistle from behind us followed by a chorus of giggles.

"Settle down, now. Let's make our guest feel comfortable," the professor scolded. Our _guest_ certainly looked comfortable enough, though I can't imagine how. He flashed a huge smile in the direction of the whistle. His skin was a deep russet color and his dark black hair was spiked and disorderly on top of his head. He had to be eight feet tall, which was going to seriously impair my ability to hide behind my easel. He was wearing a tiny little robe knotted around his waist. Though it covered his upper half, it left him exposed from near his mid-thigh down. I suppose it's not like we aren't going to see everything anyway. His exposed legs were chiseled. I swear his thigh was as big around as my waist. Really? Where did they find this guy?

The chairs were set up in a circle and by some stroke of luck the professor turned the model so his back was to us. Alice started grumbling until we were informed that this was only for the first hour, he would turn around for our second sketch during the second hour. Maybe I could get sick during break….

The teacher got Jacob positioned and I scrunched behind my easel. If everyone stayed where they were I could only see him to about his waist line…this could work. He casually tossed of the tiny robe and handed it to the professor. I suddenly realized I was holding my breath. I exhaled and peeked around my easel. Not so bad. From this angle I just saw his back… his very well defined, muscled back.

Alice started busily sketching and I picked up my charcoal pencil. Thirty minutes later I was pleasantly surprised: I had a decent likeness to the top half of the model. Alice was right. When I focused on the details and muscle lines this wasn't so bad. I took a quick peek around. My drawing was the only one that ended at the waist. I was going to have to finish this. I peeked around my pad of paper. I was more than a little grateful that he wasn't facing us; I felt a little dirty checking out his butt. But hey, it was all in the name of art, right?

His lower half matched his top half, well muscled. What exercise did you have to do to get your ass to look like that? I went back to my easels and swept in a quick line, good enough. I put my concentration back into when I was safely back just above his knee. By the end of the first hour I had relaxed a little and was even a little pleased with my drawing.

After a quick break we settled back into our seats. If I scrunched back into my original spot I was back in the safety zone, the only problem now was the naked man was looking in my direction. I was probably being paranoid, but I was sure he had been looking directly at me when he took his tiny robe back off. If I played this just right maybe I wouldn't really see anything.

"You know Jacob, I think if you move a little to your right the light is better," called the professor. _NO!_ He shifted slightly before moving back into his stance. The move had put him directly in between Alice and my easel. There was nothing blocking my full view of his front half. I concentrated on keeping my eyes on the paper in front of me. If I stuck to my original plan I would be okay. Just keep my eyes up.

It started out okay. I got his arms, minus the hands that dangled just a little too low, shoulders and chest sketched out. I suppose I could have spent more time on his face, but it seemed like he was looking at me every time I glanced up. Then my treacherous eyes did something very much against my permission. They flitted down past the invisible boundary line I had drawn in my mind.

I was trying not to ogle the strong v that his muscles formed on his lower abs. And I glanced down. Just for a second. Then my eyes ran all the way back up, he was definitely looking at me. And I had definitely just gotten caught looking. We locked eyes for a second and he winked at me. _Oh my God_. I swung my head back to my paper and promptly turned bright red. I was imagining it, no I wasn't.

I spent the rest of the class with my eyes firmly planted on the paper in front of me. I didn't care my drawing probably wasn't a good likeness; I wasn't going to get a stellar grade on the assignment anyway. I had basically scribbled in the important part…keeping details vague. I mean I had barely gotten a look and I wasn't going to look again. I don't know what Angela had been yammering about: it was certainly not the most sculptural element of this man's body. To be honest it was a little strange…

Finally, my never ending class came to an end and Jacob slipped back into his tiny robe. Alice was chatting away but I wasn't really paying attention as I jammed my things back into my bag.

"It's a little out of proportion, don't you think?" came a deep voice from directly behind me. I spun around. Jacob was assessing my picture of him still standing on the easel. I could have died right there.

"I wasn't really…I mean…not really looking…" I stuttered. He grinned at me. I'm sure it was physically impossible for me to get any redder.

"I just meant that my arms are a little long," he smirked. "You're pretty when you blush." I stared blankly at him. I heard my drawing pad being snapped shut.

"She has a boyfriend!" Alice huffed. Jacob's face fell a little. I stood up to follow Alice out.

"Nice to meet you," I said quietly over my shoulder as we left. I don't know why I said it, but it seemed rude not to say _something_.

Alice spun toward me as we walked down the hall.

"What are you crazy!? You can't hit on the nude model. You finally got a date with Edward. What would he say?" she spat.

"I wasn't hitting on the model! I was minding my own business. And we aren't telling anyone about this, _ever_, so we won't have to worry what Edward will say," I replied. I was so glad the whole ordeal was over; I just wanted to forget it and move on with my life.

"Then again, Edward didn't have the guts to just ask you out and Jacob did,  
she mused, completely ignoring me. "I mean maybe he should hear about this. He should know he's lucky you're still on the market! You can't just wait around forever…you're in demand! He should know how lucky he is," she was speaking more to herself than me, but I didn't like where her mind seemed to be going.

"Alice, don't you dare say anything!" I begged.

"Uh huh," she said vaguely, waving a hand in my direction. She still had a suspicious gleam in her eyes. "You have to trust me, Bella. I know how boys think. This is gonna be good." She laughed quietly and clapped her hands before leading me back to the dorms. I sighed, but I let it go. If there was one thing I had learned from living with Alice, it was that there was no talking to her when she decided she was right.

Later that night I was sitting next to Rose and across from Alice in the cafeteria. The dinner options had been rather lacking. I poked a fry with one of my chicken nuggets. I swear I could almost hear my heart slowing. Alice was pushing her fork around a plate full of rice pilaf. She sighed.

"If I ever see rice pilaf again it will be too soon," she said.

"I don't know what you girls are complaining about. Didn't you see the pizza?" Emmett asked. We all looked up to see the guys settling into seats around us. Jasper and Emmett on either side of Alice and Edward slid next to me. My heart stuttered a little. Seeing Edward unexpectedly always made my day… not that it was hard to make my day on Tuesdays. It wasn't exactly my favorite day of the week. He grinned at me and I returned the smile.

"How was your day?" he asked.

"It was fine. Yours?" I answered. It was fine, I guess. If you averaged in the last really great two minutes.

"Fine! We had a way more exciting day than that, didn't we, Bella?" Alice asked from across the table. I swung my head in her direction. She wouldn't. She winked at me. She would. I was sending my best death glares across the table, but it didn't seem to slow her at all.

"We had a really great art class!" She exclaimed.

"Oh yeah," Edward interjected. I could hear the question in his tone. I didn't turn to look at him, because I knew what was coming.

"It was fine, nothing real exciting," I said in my best bored tone, never breaking eye contact with Alice.

"We had a nude model in art today. It was really a great exercise." She smiled sweetly, like the traitor she was. "Don't you think Bella?" I stiffened in my seat. I knew where this was going. I wasn't sure how to derail it. It would look strange if I just stood up and left, and it probably wouldn't have stopped her.

"Hmmmm," I was stalling.

"So you got to spend two hours staring at a naked lady? Was she hot?" asked Emmett.

"Actually it was this really ripped young guy. Made for great sketches," said Alice.

"So you spent hours staring at some muscle-bound naked guy?" Jasper glared across the table.

"Don't worry, it was like anything else in art. You know, like sketching a vase. It's like how you always want to stop and look at buildings. Check out rooflines and windows and what not," she smiled.

"I'm not worried about a vase trying to put the moves on you," grumbled Jasper.

"It wasn't like that," she insisted. "Besides he really only had eyes for Bella." she said. I felt Edward tense beside me. This is what I had been waiting for. When Jasper had gotten all protective I almost thought I was in the clear. I was still staring at my plate. I heard Emmett chuckle.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," I growled.

"I'm talking about how he asked you out," she answered simply. I heard Edward cough while he choked on something. I was bright red by this point.

"He didn't ask me out, he introduced himself. Entirely different." I didn't try to disguise the harsh edge in my voice.

"Hmmm, well he was clearly _going_ to ask you out," she said.

"Alright, Bella! Scoring a model," laughed Emmett. I turned my glare in his direction. I didn't want to sit here while this spiraled out of my hands. I had had quite enough embarrassment for one day.

"I really doubt that. Anyway I have a ton of work to do tonight. I'll see you guys around," I said. I stood up abruptly, purposefully avoiding eye contact with anyone. I just wanted the day to be over. Then I could forget about random naked men being paraded in front of me. If I knew then what the rest of my week was going to be like, I would have locked my door and hid from the world until the weekend.

***

Wednesday morning passed with little fanfare. All my classes were going smoothly. I hadn't seen Heidi in math class since that fateful frat party. I thought that was a little odd, but whatever. I had been nervous that Edward would bring up the art class debacle during lunch. He didn't, though, and we had chatted causally just like we normally did.

I had relaxed by early afternoon and was walking across campus to the library. It was cool but the sky was clear, and it looked like we would be spared rain today. I took a deep breath and inhaled the fall air. It was so pretty out that I took a minute to sit on a bench and watch people pass me by. I wasn't in a particular hurry. The library could wait a couple minutes.

There was a commotion a short distance down from me, and I angled my neck to try to see what was going on. Students were dispersing quickly in both directions, making an effort to clear the sidewalk. A second later I saw the reason why. Running down the middle of the sidewalk was a lanky guy wearing a football helmet with a large number one painted on his bare chest. He was waving at the crowds as he passed. Other than the helmet he was wearing a tall pair of knee high socks and tennis shoes. That was it. I pulled back as far as I could get on the bench, as it was too late to move without risking collision. In hindsight I should have closed my eyes too. I didn't really have time to think things through.

The streaker ran directly past the bench I was sitting on while I stared straight ahead. Again, not my best plan. From my position I at just the right height to get a full view of him in all his running glory. _Okay, seriously? I do not understand the draw! _ I mean I suppose my boobs don't look their best unsupported in a full-on sprint, but still. Gross. I shivered a little. You know, I didn't _need_ to go to the library. Running naked man had been headed that way. I was going to go back to my room, and maybe try to rinse out my brain with bleach or something. I was starting to get a little agitated. I really thought there was going to be something great about a naked man. And so far I had been intimidated, weirded out, and frankly a little grossed out. None of these emotions were anything close to turned on. Maybe I was broken. Too many years of being socially stunted? Was it possible I was a lesbian? Or maybe just asexual?

I collided with Rose outside of my door when I got back to the dorm.

"You look like you got run over, what's up with you?" she asked.

"Rose, what would possess a man to run naked down a sidewalk wearing a football helmet?" I asked in response. It took a minute for her to stop laughing. I didn't see the humor in this. Maybe this was one of those things that was only funny when you didn't witness it firsthand... or maybe this brings us back to the broken thing.

"Oh that's fantastic! You saw a streaker?" she giggled. I just glared in response. No, it was official. This definitely was not funny.

"Lighten up, Bells! Maybe it was a frat stunt or something. See anything good?" She wiggled her eyebrows at me. She was spending too much time with Emmett.

"No, nothing I want to see again," I said. That was honest, maybe too honest. "I don't get it. I completely and utterly fail to see the attraction. I'm starting to think maybe I will always prefer men with their pants on." I frowned at her. She smiled at me.

"Bella trust me, when it's the right guy you'll do anything to get his pants off. Speaking of…do you know where Edward is taking you?" she asked. I smiled and pushed open my door. At least there was minimal risk of running into a naked man on my all girls floor of the dorm.

***

Thursday night I was riding up the elevator with Rose and Emmett. Alice and Jasper were out somewhere together and Edward was buried in a library with a study group. He could certainly cut loose, but Edward took his grades seriously. I had been hesitant to be the third wheel, but Rose had insisted. We spent the night in a coffee house. I had never really acquired a taste for coffee so Rose had ordered me something with a 25 letter name and assured me there was way more sugar, milk and assorted other flavors than coffee in it. I was currently riding on a hell of a sugar high.

The night had actually been really fun, even though Emmett had been filled in with the details of my Wednesday afternoon. He spent half the night making jabs about my ability to will men to take their clothes off. He thought it might be a special gift. It was innocent enough so I let it go for the most part, Rose smacked him when he said anything that tip toed over the line.

It was a little past eleven when we got to our rooms.

"Big night tomorrow, eh?" asked Emmett while Rose pushed open her door. There was a slight squeak from the other side. Emmett and I looked around the door curiously. Jessica was in the middle of the room in a t-shirt and panties. Emmett swung quickly back. I'm guessing Rose wouldn't be happy if he was caught looking.

"Sorry Jess. We'll be right back," said Rose.

"Yeah, umm, I wasn't expecting you so soon," she stammered. Rose shut the door and shrugged. I wasn't sure what the big deal was, we had all seen each other in our underwear at this point. Maybe it was Emmett.

"I'm going to the bathroom," I announced.

"Wait," Rose instructed Emmett. He gave her a salute and leaned against the wall as we walked toward the girl's bathroom. It was one of the only downfalls of having gender separated dorms, it was an elevator ride to a bathroom for the opposite sex. I pushed through the door of the bathroom and swung into the room with Rose behind me. I cornered the sinks at the worst possible moment.

"You've got to be kidding me," I groaned. Rose started snickering loudly behind my shoulder.

Standing in the middle of the bathroom was the man we had all come to know as half-naked Mike. Unfortunately he was much more than half naked. He was wearing a fuzzy pink terry cloth robe that I recognized as Jessica's. Unfortunately he had been in the middle of readjusting it just as we turned the corner and Rose and I had both gotten a full frontal flash.

He stumbled slightly to the side while he hurriedly knotted the pink robe together. It fit snuggly across him but thankfully closed, the sleeves stopped just above the wrist. I stood there with my mouth hanging open. _I seriously have the worst luck ever_. He looked up at me and clearly misread my expression.

"Did you like the view?" He smiled. I crinkled my eyebrows together. "If you're interested, all this," he gestured at his lower half, "could be yours." He was hitting on me while wearing a pink robe. This guy's confidence knew no bounds. Rose stepped around me.

"She's not interested. I don't know by what miracle you got my roommate interested in your pencil dick, but for her sake she's not going to know about this little run in. Now scurry back and collect your things. I don't want you in my room when we get back there." She scowled at him. He glowered back but slowly started circling around us to the door.

"And make plans to take her out… to dinner. Just so she's clear you weren't just using her," she said. He looked confused for a second.

"Who?" he asked clearly dumbfounded, though in fairness he was obviously a little drunk. Rose sighed loudly.

"Jessica. You remember Jessica. You're wearing her robe," she gestured at his outfit.

"Yeah, yeah right," he muttered.

"And don't even think about cancelling!" she shouted at him as the door swung closed. She turned and looked at me.

"Well, on the bright side Bella… if that is representative of what you've seen so far, Edward stands and excellent chance of impressing you!" She started giggling. I joined in. I couldn't help it, the week had been so ridiculous. My naked man count had tripled in as many days. And although it had been more than a little mortifying maybe she was right, maybe this would be good prep. I looked up at Rose and suddenly stopped giggling.

"Rose it's a first date, you don't think he's expecting…" I could feel my face turning red. "I don't really know how. I..I..." She pulled her arm around me.

"Don't worry Bella I'll give you some tips." She grinned devilishly.


End file.
